Amazing original drawings of South Shields by Sheila Graber on sale to help good causes

Sheila, 82, has been selling off her life’s work to raise funds for Sea Change, Willows Cat Adoption Centre and The Customs House.

The renowned artist, animator and educator from South Shields said she wanted to give something back after her successful career, which has included 100 films and seen her work on the TV series Paddington and adaptations of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, which were an international hit.

As part of the sale, Sheila is offering fans the chance to buy original images she created for a calendar in a special collaboration with the Shields Gazette in 1986, which she found while trawling through her work.

“As I shuffled through the hundreds of drawings I still have left I came upon some of the original drawings I did for the Gazette calendar,” she said.

"I had free reign then to choose anything so wandered about picking subjects that had particular meaning for me.

“(I didn’t use a camera then) so went and drew on the spot and these are the originals.

"I have to say they are very accurate and well drawn far better than I do now, where my style is much sketchier.

"Thus they are really archive or collectors items and I have them up on my updated selling website at £100 each.”

Sheila has now raised thousands for the charities and the sale is continuing, with all manner of work on sale, including paintings, drawings and animation cells – and prices to suit all budgets.

“I have deliberately kept the prices on my originals very low ranging from £200 to £50 as I really would like raise funds for Sea Change, Willows Cat Adoption Centre and our Customs House,” she said.

She won the Lifetime Achievement category at the Best of South Tyneside Awards in April, after an illustrious career spanning decades, her work touching the hearts of people around the world – not least in her native South Shields.

To view her work up for grabs, visit https://www.sheilagraberanimation.com/SHEILASHOW/index.html