“Yes and” Character Creation
Contributed by Laura Borgwardt
Goal
To practice building on each others ideas, collaborating and saying “yes and” to our classmates ideas/offers.
Directions
- Today we will be creating characters together using different shapes and our imaginations.
- Teaching Artist and classroom teacher will start by demonstrating the process of creating a character together using shapes and taking turns. On a single sheet of paper…
- Person 1 draws a shape
- Person 2 adds on a shape
- Person 3 completes the character by adding shapes and lines
- Person 4 names the character
- WOAH! Look at the awesome character that you created with your ensemble!
- Hand out a sheet of paper and drawing utensil(s) to every student. We will all start by drawing one shape on our paper.
- Pass your paper to the person on your right.
- On this new piece of paper, add another shape to what the first person started
- Pass it to the right
- Now, complete the character by adding in shapes and lines
- Pass it to the right
- You are in charge of giving this character a name — write their name at the top of the paper.
- Start again with a new character OR give your character a voice and a line of dialogue. Have them introduce themselves to the group or the person sitting next to them.
- Pass the characters back to the original artist or hang them up for everyone to do a gallery walk.
- Reflection –
- How did it feel to give your artwork to the next person?
- Did the character you started with a shape turn out the way you thought it would?
- What happens when we collaborate with other artists?
Transition into Activity
Show a picture of a cloud. What does this cloud look like? Use your imagination. Show a picture of a shape. What does this shape look like? Is there a part of a character (nose, head, briefcase) that it could be?
Transition out of Activity
Give you and your fellow artists a round of applause. You created some amazing characters together. Connect the idea of building on each other’s ideas to whatever activity is coming next.
Classroom Arrangement
Level 1: Small group desk/table clusters
Level Up: Desks/tables in a giant circle
Supports/Adaptive Materials/Tools
- Have visuals of lots of different shapes and lines posted on the wall or on individual sheets on the table(s)
- Try practicing the shapes first — can you draw a circle? A straight line? You could try making the shapes physical (can you show a circle in your body? Can you make your arms into a diagonal line? What about a curvy line?)
- Option: In step three, have the artist tape or glue a 3D object to the paper (a pipe cleaner, paper clip, rock, etc) to make the character mixed media.
- You can add a visual timer so that everyone knows how much time they have for each step — step three will take longer than the first two steps.
Role of the Teachers and Paraprofessionals
Sit amongst students — remind students to be generous collaborators, as necessary
Remote Adaptation
Prepare in advance individualized shareable google drawing files. The logistics can get a bit complicated.