Designing the doorway to adventure

Anyone who follows my blog or any of my other social media sites knows I have an obsession with doors. I collect them, I draw them, I write books about them.

This year I also fine-tuned a workshop about them that helps set up students to write a story about a character who discovers a doorway that leads to an adventure. This is a bit different from the workshop that I have in which students actually construct wooden models of doors. That workshop is labor intensive and can only be delivered to small groups.

This new workshop allows me to work with large groups of up to 60. Here’s some photos of the kids’ work on their brainstorming sheet that they worked on yesterday after viewing my door collection. Many fantastic ideas!

 

Head’s up: modeling characters 3D style

Officially, my time has come to an end as the artist-in-residence at a local specialized learning center for teens. I’ve been asked to see if I can come back in for a few more sessions and I would love to, since I’ve enjoyed working with this group of students so much. It’s just a matter of fitting the days in amidst my writing and touring schedule this hectic spring.

But who wouldn’t want to go back? We’ve had so much fun designing and building characters through costumes and props. We’ve been drilling, sanding, carving, gluing, hair-cutting . . . you name it!

Here’s some of the most recent photos of the students’ creations . . .