Story-Monsters

Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology

12th December, 2013

This half-day workshop was facilitated by Sonalee Mandke and myself for visitors to the 2013 Srishti Graduation Exhibition. It aimed to introduce participants to a quick ideation process for developing visual stories. 

1. Monstrous Creations 

Create your own monster. Look through magazines and newspapers and cut out anything that you might like to use to make your monster. You can cut out eyes, noses, hands, parts of objects, machines, animals, trees, letters, colours and textures…There are no rules. Imagine a monster that is like no other seen before! Think about… 

What would your monster look like? What clothes would the monster wear? Would it have any accessories? What kind of personality would it have? 

Notice how the appearance and character of your monsters change every time you add to it. 

What happens if you change the monsters size, shape, colour, face or clothing? Can you make the monster look funny, scary, sad, angry or crazy? 

2. Imaginative Happenings 

Draw your new monster character in the centre of a large sheet of paper. Then, work quickly to create many possible situations and adventures with your monster. Draw all the things that could happen to this character, with one thing leading on from the other (Cause/ effect). Think about… 

Where does your monster come from? What does your monster do? What are all the fun, curious or unexpected things that happen to your monster? 

3. Beginning, Middle and End 

Choose your favourite story idea and make it into a fantastic finished story, with a beginning, middle and end. Use five sheets of paper – each sheet is for one frame of the story. The first frame is for the beginning, the third frame is for the middle and the fifth frame is for the end. Use the in-between frames to link them all together. If you like, you can start with the middle frame or the last frame and work backwards. Think about… 

What does your monster do in the story? Where does the monster go? How does the story begin? What exciting thing happens in the middle of the story? Will the story end in a happy, funny, sad or unexpected way?

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