Story Planet!

A couple of "finally"s here:  finally found a way to post multiple images in one of these Patreon posts (though it is suuuper circuitous :0P) and I finally participated in a Story Planet workshop!   

The workshops were wonderful.  I was there "shadowing" my friend Josh Rosen, who has been working with Story Planet as an artist for a number of years now.  The two workshops I participated in took place in two different second grade class rooms.    

The workshops start with a facilitator introducing the volunteers/staff, followed by a segment where the facilitator guides the class through coming up with their own definition and understanding of what a story is and how it works (usually covering concepts such as Genre, characters, beginning, middle and end, etc).  Then the class  is divided into two groups -- one to develop a character, the other, a setting.    

Taking a cue from the world of improvisational comedy, the students are then instructed to always say "yes" to the ideas of their peers, building on the group's joint idea, rather than saying what they don't like.  The other rule is that they have to come up with original ideas rather than nab their favorites from pop culture.

As the children are lead through this process, it is the job of the artist(s) to bounce back and forth between the two groups (who are gathered in separate rooms), taking notes and sketching to figure out how to draw the outlandish creations the students are coming up with.    Next the two groups come back together and share their ideas, which are recorded by another volunteer on a computer which is projected in  front of the class.  Coincidentally, this allows Josh and I to fill in the gaps we missed by bouncing between the two groups.   

Then, with the moderation of the facilitator, the kids collaboratively write the beginning of a story, staring their character and set in the environment they came up with.  This is where the artists really start working on developing their illustrations.  
Finally, once the collaborative story has reached an exciting cliff hanger, the class is given paper and drawing/writing implements, and given time to write and illustrate their own individual endings to the group's story.


During this time, Josh and I were each balancing the tasks of drawing two complete illustrations (one for the cover, one the interior) and helping/encouraging the students in their writing and drawing.    
From what I understand, all of the kids' endings and illustrations will then be collected alongside the collaboratively written beginning and Josh's illustrations, and put into book form for each newly published author to take home.  


For me, this was an incredible first experience.  I really enjoyed encouraging the kids and sharing with them the fun of drawing and storytelling.  I also found the experience of needing to crank out a relatively finished drawing in a very short period of time very satisfying.  Boot-camp for the drawing hand and mind.    Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the below drawings!


- chris