CHILDREN'S author and illustrator Cameron Stelzer dropped into St Gregory's Primary School this week and brought along his wonderful rainbow-coloured creation, the Stroogle.
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Mr Stelzer entertained students with readings of his award-winning picture books centred on the Stroogle's many adventures to lands far away.
The Queensland man said travelling around the country for school tours was one of the best parts of the job.
"It's a really rewarding and enjoyable, you get a lot of feedback from the kids and it's inspiring as well," he said.
"They love the Stroogle, they love the fact they have to find him in the books. I like to create different worlds for them, it's not just a beach or a jungle but a whole other world like Candy Land. It's something they wouldn't find in real life."
Mr Stelzer said it takes about six months to create one picture book and each detailed page takes about a week to draw and fill in with watercolour paints.
Students had a chance to flex their artistic muscles as they tried their hand at colouring in sketches of the Stroogle on Wednesday morning.
Mr Stelzer has also created a line of books showing children a step-by-step guide of how to illustrate character. He is now focused on writing a novel series titled Pie Rats featuring characters from the Stroogle books.
He is currently working on the second and third instalment of the series titled Pie Rats: The Hidden Key and Pie Rats: Island of Destiny.
