High School

Storyboard characters by Finn Y., grade eleven.

The Essential Question
What inspires people to make art?

Objective
Students will design a storyboard based on a personal experience and featuring original characters.

Materials
markers, pencils, erasers, sketch-books, storyboard template, fine-tipped black permanent markers or fineliner technical pens

Procedures

1. Ask students to focus on a personal experience to create a storyboard narrative. Students brainstorm potential characters in their sketchbooks.
2. Students use a storyboard template (free versions are available online) to begin the visualization of their narrative. Ask them to consider foreground, middle ground, and background, and to think about the beginning, middle, and end of their scene.
3. Students draw their final subjects and scenes in pencil, then add color.
4. Students outline their drawings with a fine-tipped permanent marker or technical pen to give them an illustrative look.

Frank Juárez is an art teacher at Sheboygan North High School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.