Can be adapted for different ages from kindergarten to adults

From Storyboard to Storybook: how a children’s book is made 

Carolyn shows slides of the illustration and writing process from storyboard to storybook. Ideas look messy when they come out of Carolyn’s brain and usually need to be revised many times before they shine. Carolyn shows how she collects thoughts and refines drawings and paintings in her sketchbook. Carolyn winds things up with a demonstration: how to draw a portrait WITHOUT using an eraser. She gets an audience member to be the model, and leaves the portrait with the model when she’s done. 

Carolyn’s editor came to visit from California during a raging Alberta snowstorm. The temperature was –35C. The doors on the editor’s airplane luggage compartment froze shut. 

“Hey,” Carolyn said to the editor. “Maybe I should write and illustrate a book about hot and cold!”

This presentation shows how you turn a very bad day into a good idea, and then turn the good idea into a book.

Using Sketchbooks to Grow Ideas

Break out your sketchbook for a session of drawing and brainstorming! Carolyn talks about how she collects ideas in sketchbooks. She uses her sketchbooks to grow stories, pictures and comic strips. Students will use Carolyn’s brain tornado techniques to write a story or draw a picture of their own.

From Ugh to Wow: using drafts to fix your stories and drawings

Sometimes ideas look ugly and messy and slimy when you first write them on paper. Carolyn works with students to show it’s ok to try ideas 999,999 times just to see what they look like. Carolyn gives composition tricks and sketching techniques to help students make stronger pictures and stories.

Other programs and workshops available upon request.