Transcripts
1. Introduction: Have you ever felt drained of creative potential and just completely stuck
in a creative rut. Perhaps painting and
drawing the same things in the same style with no
perceptible improvement. Or maybe you started work on a painting which you were
initially excited about, but then eventually
felt stuck and gave up. Hi, my name is Molly Barker. And today we're going
to break out of our rut by flexing some
different creative muscles. We will be coming up
with scenes, stories. These very short stories will allow us for breath
of fresh air in our creative journey and
help you to flesh out an idea which can later be used as a reference
for a piece of art. We will be coming up with
a one-page story and use the information from our
story to come up with thumbnail sketches from
different perspectives. Will also be able to
glean small bits of information like a color
palette and tiny pieces, which will be important to the composition of an illustration. These tiny details are easily discovered and planned
out in our stories, but would otherwise be
difficult to remember to include if we jumped
right into our painting. We'll start with an
idea or a character, or even a feeling in our mind. Then we'll expand
that one thing into a full but very short story
using words instead of paint. By switching up the
medium that we use to tell our picture
instead of showing it, will be able to experience
our story in a different way, which often leads to
creative breakthroughs. I really look forward to going on this writing
journey with you, and I'll see you in
my first lesson.
2. Project and Materials: This class will have one major
part of the project and to smaller optional parts depending on what you feel like
you'd like to work on. The first part of the project
is to write your story. I say that this
story is one-page, but feel free to
write anywhere from about 250 to 750
words. In this story. You'll go through
the whole process of fleshing out your story, identifying all of the
pieces of the environment, the feeling of your character through their thoughts while simultaneously picking out an
appropriate color palette. The story will allow you to get a more three-dimensional feel of all of your surroundings. Instead of looking
at something through the square of your
paper or iPad, you get to stand in
your character's shoes and paint the
picture all around. Building your character
from the inside out. Just as the main intention
of this class is to use creative writing
to break out of a rut. The main portion of the project is to write your short story. However, there are a couple
of additional aspects of this class that I
would encourage you to attempt after you've
written your story. Identify three different
perspectives from your story and sketch them in
black and white thumbnails. You can either include your character and the
thumbnails or draw it as if you're looking
through their eyes and, or create a color palette based on the feeling and
colors of your story. I really look forward to
seeing what you come up with, and I will always
offer feedback. If you're feeling stuck, have a question about the class or want to chat about
something specific. Please post a comment on
the class discussion board. And I will be more
than happy to answer your questions and chat
with you about the class. Additionally, if you need a friendly critique before you are able to
finish your story, I encourage you to post your partially completed project to the class project section. And I will be able to
make a suggestion there. So that's the project. Let's very briefly cover
materials that you'll need. You won't need a lot. You will need something
to write with. It can be anything that
you feel comfortable with. Be it a pencil and a journal, an iPad, or your
phone, or a laptop. If you plan on completing any of the additional
projects sections, you'll need something
to draw with. I'm going to be
using my iPad with Procreate to illustrate
this portion of the class. But you can feel free to use
any medium that you prefer. Pencil, paint, pen,
iPad, whatever. I really look forward
to working with you and seeing what you come
up with for your project. I'll see you in the next lesson.
3. What Will We Learn?: Think about your
story as completely encapsulating a scene
that lasts just a moment. We're going to be
thorough and write everything that's
happening in this moment. Everything that's
around your character that you think is important, but also everything
that is going on inside your character will include
all of the major senses. Sight, which includes color, season of the year, light and time of day, as well as the weather
that's happening in the environment and all of
the items in the location, such as trees in a forest or a tea cup on a table,
or a brass door knob. This will be the most
important sense as this can eventually be used
for an illustration. But the others will help to show the mood and bring
everything together. Smell, which could be normal things like the
smell of baking bread. Or it could be the smell of dirt or the smell of hard work. Then the way things feel when touched or non-specific
things like the feel of wind in your hair or the feel of someone's
fingertips on your cheek. If there was a specific taste. Like if your
character is drinking apple cider or tasting
a fresh strawberry. Or it could be the taste of salt water on the
air by the sea, as well as any sounds
that are happening. The creek of a door, the crispy sound
of fallen leaves, the tinkle of a nearby creek, the crackle of a camp, but campfire or rain
pattering on a glass window, which turns into a soft lighting sound as the weather
changes and raindrops turned to have frozen slash will also be including specific
visuals about your character. What does their hair look like? What clothes and shoes
are they wearing? This is a bit of a tough one because you don't want to just list they're looking outfits
in a mechanical way, but incorporate
these things into your story in a meaningful way. The main idea behind this method is that through
writing the story, you will have a better
understanding of the story that you're
thinking about, making it easier to draw or
paint later If you choose to. Though you should be including some physical characteristics
about your character, you'll begin to have
a better idea of what you want them to
look like internally. And don't need to write
out everything about them. Maybe only include the
most important things, such as their hair or they
have strikingly green eyes, are dark velvety skin or freckles scattered
across their cheeks. By writing and then
rewriting your story, you'll be able to go back and fill in gaps and the
story that you could have accidentally glossed
over if you were to use this story for painting
without first writing it out. This can make a final
illustration look and feel so much more
real and planned out. Though you want the
story to be informative. We also want for the story
itself to be beautifully written and evoke a certain
feeling when being read. The same type of
feeling that you want your painting to evoke. One of the questions that
you should ask yourself is, why are you writing the story? This is meant to be a
pause from your usual, a change of pace to break out of your everyday feelings
and activities. I feel like I start
to get stuck in a creative rut when I become
too busy and stressed. And if I tried to do
too much at once. So most of the stories
tend to revolve around the feeling of simplicity
and rest fullness, which I'm not feeling
in my everyday life. Since this idea of story writing is intended to
break you out of your rut. I would encourage
you to delve a bit deeper into why you feel stuck. Is it due to stress, anxiety? Perhaps you should try to
write a calming story about simplicity and the
feeling of being content. Is it due to boredom or repetition or the feeling of being overwhelmed
by the mundane. Perhaps you may want to
write a more exciting story, a thrilling tale about
adventure and Hidden Treasure. Are you in a rut because
you're feeling a bit lonely? Maybe, right, about the feelings you have when
surrounded by friends. Or conversely,
write a story about the things that you do to feel
contents well by yourself. If you're not sure why
you're stuck in this rut, just pick something that
you're interested in. And right from there. I also want to mention that although I'm using this
story as a way to change how I see something
in a creative way that I'll eventually
lead back into painting. That's not the only
reason to write stories. My creative love will
always be painting. But if this is your first
foray into anything creative, you don't have to use this as a way to clear your
head for painting. This could be something that you do even if you're creative love is baking or mountain bike
riding or martial arts. All that being said, let's move right into
our first story. I'll see you in the next lesson.
4. Morning Mist, Morning Chores: Morning mist, morning chores. Tendrils of my hair unwound from its night
braid curl around my face as I place my coffee mug on the side
table next to the front door. I wrapped my scarf around my
shoulders and slip my fleet clad in wool socks into
my tall green boots. I pick up my mug in one hand and turn my breast or
not with the other, opening my front door
with a slight creek. And you decrease that
onto the chilly morning. Everything seems to be
in shade of lavender, sage and rose pink in the
shadow just before the dawn. Missed swirls around my footpath and do clings to the tall
grasses on either side. Just then the sun peaks over the hill making the Duke glimmer like drops of shining gold. As it's raised, glint
off of each one. Steam from my hot coffee rises in intricate
glistening patterns. I take a deep breath of
the chill morning air. Rising with the sun
has its advantages. And seeing the world go from the muted colors of the night to the vibrancy of donning light is definitely one of them. I sit on the steps
of my porch and take a moment to admire
the morning birdsong, the chyme and Google
of the nearby creek, and the splendor of the way that the world wakes to
the light of the sun. The trees are green with scattered color hinting
at the coming autumn. And the grasses are tall
with toughs of full grains, pulling them down
into graceful arches. A hint clucks. And I remember my task. I reached for the basket that always lives on the porch and descend with a crunch of my boot onto the
gravelly dirt path. I walked toward the coop. The hens know the sound of my footsteps and the low
murmured clicking grows louder. With the basket in the
crook of my elbow, I take a sip of my still
too hot coffee and set them down on the stump next to the
box of chicken feed. As I lift the lid to take
a scoop of the feed, I hear the familiar
Creek of the front door, followed by giggles
and the sound of two sets of bare feet patterning across
the wood planks of the porch and crunching
on the footpath. Momma, Can we get the
eggs this morning? I looked back down the
path and can't help but smile at my two Telcel haired
boys running toward me. There curls catching
the morning light, similarly to the drops of
dew on the grass is giving them a fuzzy golden halo
about their smiling faces. Though they seem to have
forgotten their boots. At least they both put
on their sweaters. Of course you can. I take the basket
from the crook of my arm and hand it to my
oldest as he runs by. Check Beatrice box first, she might have a few. With a smile still on my face. I pick up my mug of coffee and I have one more step before taking the scoop of feed
to my little flock of hints as the
morning chores began. Join me in the next lesson, where we'll break down
the story into its parts, which will allow us
to more fully see the best perspectives and what we want to focus on in
our thumbnail sketches. And also identify the most
appropriate color palette.
5. Break Down Story: Okay, So let's break
the story down. I've written down
a few questions that we're going
to look through as we contemplate how to break down our story into its parts. Though we're using
these questions after having written the story. These are really
great questions to ask yourself as you're
writing your story. Especially if you get stuck
or if the story feels flat. When you start your own story, if you get stuck while writing, one of my favorite things to do is to move on to a
different sense. If I'm writing about what
my character is looking at, I might change to what
she's smelling or hearing. Think about how you
yourself are right now. Let's take a moment and
start with the visuals. Look around. What do you see? What are some of the most
eye-catching things around you? Now look a little beyond that. What else do you
see now that you're focusing almost all of your
attention on that sense. Okay, now, close your eyes. What pops out first to you? Is it a sound or a
smell, a feeling? Can you feel the
sun on your face? Maybe you have bread baking or the rich smell of
coffee you just brewed. Or perhaps you hear a little
noises in your house. Can you hear the sound of a furnace or leaves
rustling in the wind? Or maybe the sound of
traffic or a dog barking. Maybe you're somewhere
wilder and you can hear the sound of coyotes
calling to each other. That's what I want you
to do with your story. If you get stuck or
as you go back and reread it and it
feels a little empty, trie expounding on
a different sense. Okay, let's jump in the story we just read
and go from there. So here are the questions. The first thing that you
want to identify is, who is the main character? In this story? The
main character is a mother going out to
do her morning chores. The next thing is, what are her defining
characteristics? You can see this from
the beginning of the story all the
way throughout it, that you can pick up small
bits of information. So we'll say she
has hair that is wound up into a braid with
tendrils around her face. She is currently wearing a
scarf around her shoulders, wool socks, tall green boots. And she's also holding her steaming morning
coffee and a mug. The next thing that you
want to think about is, what is she feeling
or thinking about? And we're going to
break it down into the different sections
of the story. In the beginning, she was thinking about the
things around her. The Creek of the door, the beauty of the landscape. Just before dawn. In the middle, she was thinking about
all of her surroundings. Then what her task
of the moment is, feeding the hens and
checking for eggs. And then at the end,
she was thinking about the beauty of her
children in the morning, their lack of shoes, even though it's cold
and the joy of children trying to help and the simple act of beginning
chores for the day. So going on, what is
our character doing? What is her task? So is she pleased with the task? Upset, angry, annoyed? What is the time of day? We know that her task
is to feed the hens, check for eggs, and eventually make breakfast
for the family. She is not upset by the
chores, but he's pleased. She's calm, happy, and
she seems rather content. The time of day is just
before and during dawn. At this point, think
about the five senses. What is our character seeing? She's seen many things. She sees a brass door knob, a porch with a basket, the footpath and the
grasses around it. The morning mist and the
steam from her coffee, the colors in the shadow, the stump where she
places her coffee. The coop, the box of feed her children and how they look in the
dawning light of day. And she must also
see her chickens. So what do they feel? There are many different fields. The field of warm socks
and comfortable boots, hair tickling her cheeks, a hot coffee mug. The cold of the brass door knob, the chill of the morning air, and the scalding
taste of her coffee. Is there a smell? Yes, there's the
smell of coffee. The unmistakable cent of
chickens, a wonderful, misty cold morning, and
the smell of wet grass. Do they hear anything? Yes, she hears. The door. She talks about Hearing
Birdsong, the creek sounds, the hens murmuring and clocking the sound of her children's
bare feet and their giggles. Is there a taste? The taste of the morning air, which definitely has a taste, and the taste of two hot coffee. So the next thing is, what season is it? This is important for
potential color palettes. And just the overall
feeling of your character. Because of the changing of
the leaves in the trees, it seems to be very early fall. What is the temperature
and whether it's Chile, misty, but clear. Let's find the colors
that are mentioned. What color is the sky? It seems to be a
clear morning to let the sun shines so brightly. The colors of the ground before sunrise,
shade of lavender, sage and rose, pink green
boots and a brass doorknob. After sunrise, glinting gold, full yellow grains of grasses, green trees with
scattered fall colors. A gravelly path would
seem to be grayish. A halo, gold around boys faces. Colors that are on our character while the
green boots are mentioned. But that's all that's mentioned. What color are the
plants around? Their green changing
to fall colors. So that would be yellowish
grasses and red leaves, brown leaves, yellow leaves. Do the colors change
throughout the story? Yes, from predawn to sunrise, things go from shadowy and vague to as vibrant
as glint in gold. Now let's find the location. Is it inside? Yes, there is a
part that's inside. What types of furnishings
are around them? Something for the scarf
to be on, of course, maybe a hook or a hat stand aside table by the front door where
she places her coffee. The brass door
knob is mentioned. The side table and the brass door knob or
mentioned specifically. But the thing that is implied is a place for the scarf
and for her boots. What does that look like? What what kinds of things does
she have around her door? Outside? What kinds of plants
are in the environment? Trees and grasses. Are there animals? What kind, what are they doing? Yes, there are animals,
there are chickens. There are hints specifically. Secondary characters. What do they look like? Well, there are two boys with
bare feet wearing sweaters, smiling, with tassel
morning hair. Probably just woke up and
there definitely giggling. What are they doing? They're coming out
to collect the eggs because of course that's
the most fun thing to do. What are they feeling? They seem pleased, excited, happy, may be happy to help. What are some of the most
important visual things that are expressly mentioned? The way that the world changes with a dawning light of day. I think that one
moment in the story is probably the
most visual point. What are the most important non-visual things
that are mentioned? The feeling of night
turning to morning, and the absolute beauty
surrounding her. Some additional notes
about the location. This is obviously a
well-worked path, something that she
does every day. And she seems so
pleased and content. Some additional notes
about characters. How happy she was to see her
children in the morning.
6. Sketches and Color Palette: Okay, So let's take that
information that we took from our story and let's apply it to the optional part
of the class project. The first thing that you're
going to do is think about what viewpoint you want to have in
reference to your story. I've come up with three
different perspectives from our story and I feel
like it would just be easier to show my
sketches instead of talking about it first,
let's dive right in. Here's my first sketch. The first part of this story that really spoke to me is when our character went
outside and sat down on the steps of her
porch as the sun rose. I could've made the
picture through her eyes, but I wanted to have her in
the picture so that you can see things like her
braid her cup of coffee, and just see her and
be a part of it. This is my rough sketch and
I wanted to add a bit of values so that you can see the contrast between these
two different spaces. So here let's add that in. And you can see here, There's the beautiful
brightness of the Sun. And our character sitting there watching the new rays
of the sunlight, her little piece of the world. And you have all of these
little details that you maybe could have missed
if you had an added this, just this storyline to it. And so you have the
path, you have the girl, you have all of these
little beautiful things. And the next one that I did, let's go ahead and just move
on to the next perspective. Here we go. This is
again on the porch. Character is not in the frame. This would be more
what she sees. So again, let's add some
value and contrast. And you can see that it really just adds a
lot of information. It makes it a lot more useful. This sketch, you can see
the sun downing over here. You can see the contrast between this wonderful beam on the porch and it's sort
of frames the picture. You can see the
lights coming through and making the hens look dark. And I think that this was a really interesting
point in the story, just when the sun comes up
and then the colors change. It's very beautiful. I really like that. So let's go ahead and move on to our last perspective
that I chose to sketch, and that would be this one. And as you can see, I chose to capture that
moment that she was inside right before she
opened her creaky door. You can see her mug on the table and her
view from the door. And let's add that
value one more time. This is one of the things
that I really liked, the sort of shadowy
darkness of the house. But this vibrant pre-dawn light coming through the door
and through the window. And I also like the steam
coming off the mug here. I actually really like this one, but I feel like I got a little
carried away as what was going on inside the house in
this interior of the room, like these shoe cubbies and the hats on the
wall and the coat rack with the mittens
and the scarf. I think that if I was
going to use this as a thumbnail for a
final illustration, I would adjust my
perspective a little bit. And as you can see here, if you break this
down into thirds, the doorway is on
the one-third mark, and that's very interesting. But then if you look over here, what else is in this
most important spot? It's a coat rack. Is that
really that important? Probably not. And so I went ahead and just
changed it a little bit so that you can see the
difference between these two. I just re-framed it slightly. And you can see that this is though this gives you
a lot of information. Here. You can see the door, you can see the table, you can see the coat rack. You can see all of this. But here is a lot
more interesting. It has less information, but more more focused on what
was important to the story. I would say the coat rack
probably wasn't important. But this doorway and the exit into the pre-dawn
light, that was important. And so I just re-framed it and I feel like it really
helped it a lot. So let's go ahead and pick out some potential
colors for the story. So what I did was the colors that I
thought were most important were a dark brown because
it's a very earthy thing. You talked about the
wood of the door, the wood floor or the table. These things would
be made of wood. And so we need a brown. And then she also talks about the lavender and Sage and then
the brightness of the Sun, the yellows, the dry grasses, and the rose color for different
highlights and things. And then what I like to do
when I'm using Procreate, just add a little bit of a low-light and a
highlight to each one, each color in my color palette. And that way when
you're drawing, let's say you're drawing a, you're drawing a flower, right? Alright, that's a nice flower. Let's go ahead and add some medium tone
yellow to it then. But I want to have a
highlight here on the petals. So right away you
can just grab all of these different
shades of one color. And you can have all of
this interesting stuff going on really easily
without having to go to your, your color picker over here. And then one more
tip is that if you, if you like these, let's say
that you like these colors. But man, I'm not feeling
how light they are. Go over to this adjustments menu and click on hue,
saturation and brightness. And you can very easily change
how bright or dark it is. You can change the saturation. You make much more
saturated or hardly at all. Then another thing that
you can do is let's say, I don't like this rose color. So I'm just going to
select this one color. Pulled down with three
fingers, cut and paste. And then use this hue
saturation and brightness. And you can change
this one color. Let's say I want it to be
instead this nice blue or another kind of purply color and just this one color I want to change
and not the others. So that's something very
interesting that you can use Procreate for to sort of really easily change
your color palette. Okay, I think that's about it. Let's go ahead and move
on to our next lesson.
7. The Heat of Late Summer in a Seed: The heat of late
summer in a seed. I look out my window pane, half frozen rain beats
against the glass. Slushy pieces of ice slide down the glass and the world
outside looks muddy. Deep yellows of old grasses from the previous year are
tough to here and there. A slight fuzz of new
green beneath them, beginning to carpet the
browns of the Earth. The skies are gray and The
Shining moisture in the air seem to cover everything with
a silvery, shimmering net. After a moment, looking out at the cold sheeting
rain, I shiver, regardless of the cosy warmth of my home heated by the
glowing fireplace, I turn my attention back
to my task of the day, sorting seeds and planting for the spring and
summer garden. If it weren't for the promise
of the new green fuzz, the freezing weather would make springs seem
impossibly far away. As I turn over each seed packet, the look and flavor
and fragrance of the vegetables and fruits in the summer are all
too easy to imagine. Beats with their beautiful
rich color and earthy flavor. Spicy radishes that crunch
between your teeth. I can see the squashes
and pumpkins lined up on my shelf and the fall to a bright golden
orange to be roasted and made into thick hot soups
for chilly winter nights. I see braids of
garlic planted from the previous summer and
herbs tied up in bunches. I can smell rosemary. Hi, I'm oregano sage in my mind. And remember the feel
of each of the plants. The explosion of fragrance as you bruise a leaf
between your fingers. I open the packet of
how Filipinos seeds and taste the spice of
salsa on my tongue. The fresh zest of lime squeezed
over the grilled peppers. The wonderful smell of
home-grown tomatoes in marinara preserved in a jar
from the summer bounty. My shelves packed with a
colorful rainbow of sauces, pickles and jams and glass jars. They're shiny silver tops
glinting with light. But right now, I looked down at my seed packets, bags of soil, seed starting pots and popsicle sticks with plant
names written in marker, all scattered over an old
tablecloth on my wooden table. I take a seed packet, shake a few seats onto my hand, and plant the potential
for this year's harvest half an inch down in the
small part of dirt before me, placing a popsicle
stick in the edge of the pot watermelon,
the tag reads, and I'm transported to
the heat of late summer, Sticky Fingers and smiling faces all in a tiny black seed.
8. An Arrow of Geese: An arrow of geese. The skies or cloudy, not yet threatening
rain or snow, simply gray with patches of light or white as the settings sun's rays attempt
to break through. All around me is ablaze
with deep ogres, vibrant reds and oranges, muted browns with small patches
of green here and there. The flowers of spring
and summer have been replaced by seed pods,
drying and scattering. Next year's generation of
vibrant and delicate flowers. Nearby, milkweed pods have split and are pouring
forth their seeds, floating with their
silky filaments holding them aloft
on the chill breeze, which will take them to
a new land where they will form a new colony
far from their route. As I walk from the
Coop to my home, after putting the hands
to bed for the night, I pause on my footpath. The walk between coop
and home isn't far, but it is just far enough
to make me feel the need to stop and admire the absolute
stunning beauty around me. The breeze lifts my
long brown curls and fine tendrils pair
fly around my face. As I pull my shoulder
a little closer, I stand still looking
and I breathe deep smelling that
earthy fragrance of life beginning to hibernate
a faint wisp of the spicy scent of
apple cider that I have stewing on the stove
is also on the breeze. The thought of cider
pulls my eyes toward the two apple trees in the front yard still
laden with apples, even after two days
of harvesting. Beyond the trees, the windows
into the front room of my home glow with a warm light from the
newly Kindle Fire, promising a cozy night. As I am about to restart my
short trek to the house, the final light of the
sun as it is setting behind the hills covered
in autumn trees. Finally breaks through
the barricade of clouds, gilding the sky and the surrounding forest
with a golden light. Just below the clouds, fly an arrow of geese
pointing south, a hunk and an answer
echo overhead. Their formation is just right. They look to be in
perfect harmony. Their feathers
gleaming in the light. They fly to escape the
cold of the North. But I smile. Take one more lingering
look at the clouds as the gold is extinguished
by the sinking son. And I resume the walk
to my home where cozy blankets at toasty fire
and hot apple cider await.
9. Savoring Summer Strawberries and Breezes: Savoring summer
strawberries and freezes. Sweat trickles down between
my shoulder blades. The sun is shining
bright and pale blue sky and the air is perfectly
still stifling really hard. I stand and stretch my back, looking out over my
strawberry patch, a sea of green dotted with red berries and small
white blossoms. I glance behind. My little one is napping in the shade under the oak
tree in her bassinet. The fat fingers
have her hand lane next to her rosy
cheeks as she sleeps. Her soft lips slightly puckered. I smile towards the bassinet. With sticky fingers. I take off my floppy straw hat, using it as a fan to move the
stifling air over my face. But the sweet, juicy
fragrance of ripe berries wafts over me and draws my
attention back to my task. I pluck my shirt away
from my chest and back, allowing for some
air circulation. Before kneeling down near
a fresh patch of berries. I have three large glass bowls filled with ripe berries and probably two more
bulls to go before I've picked as much as I want for preserves for the winter, I reach out and
move a few leaves, revealing several fat,
dark red berries. Definitely picking them my place for unknowable and
one in my mouth. The tart but sugary
juices flood my mouth. And the wonderful
fragrance of home grown strawberries as me closing
my eyes for a moment, just to savor this moment. Heat and sweat, Sticky
Fingers and tart berries. I opened my eyes, looking out towards
the tiny pond by my house and find that all five of my ducks I sleeping lazily in the shade
under the cherry tree. I smile and shake my head as I turn back
to the strawberries, they can't seem to
focus on what I'm doing because it's so incredibly hot, I'm almost going to give up when the most welcomed thing happens. I see it at a distance, starting at the grass
lining the dirt road. A ripple, a breeze makes its way all along the
road over my gardens. And finally to me, I take off my hat and lift braid in anticipation
of the cool wind. It smells like summer grass and gardens and couldn't
be more welcome. It rushes over me. My sweat evaporating
from my overheated skin, leaving trails of
tingling, cold. I exhale as the breeze moves on and been back to my
work with renewed energy. And I'm able to just fill the remainder of my bowls before a coup from the bass in it
hints that someone has waived.
10. Making Jam: Making jam. The
thick syrupy smell of strawberries and sugar
walks around the stove. The windows are thrown open
wide to let them moist heat from the stove dissipate
into the dry afternoon air. The counters are spread
with containers of sugar, halves of squeezed lemons, a cutting board covered
with green toughs of strawberry tops and
sweet red juice. And measuring cups
and spoons tucked beside a dozen glass
jars with silver lids. A big copper stock pot sits on the stove top with strawberry
preserves bubbling thickly. And next to it a huge
silver pot filled with fresh clean water to sanitize the chars for canning
is just about to boil. My loose tank top hangs
away from my skin, allowing the dry afternoon
air to keep me cool. My hair has reacted to the sticky humidity by
unwinding itself from my messy been a top my head and curling around my
face and tendrils. I stand before the stove with my bare feet on
the wood floor and my skirt and apron fluttering about my knees in the
breeze from the window. The wooden spoon in
my hand is old and familiar with a picture
of an owl carved into it. The L is currently
head first and the sticky preserves I
stirred continuously. The sounds of my children
laughing comes in with a breeze and I look out and smile to see them
running and the tall, slightly yellowed
grass of the yard. The late summer sun seems to be glazing everything
with white light. The white of the
sun reminds me of the reward of opening
a jar of vibrant red, sweet strawberry preserves
when the weather has changed. And instead of dry heat, rigid and snowing day, on the days that don't seem to have any color of their own, strawberry preserves are
able to transport me to the hot summer days where I
long for snow and sweaters, cozy buyers to ward off
the chill of the outside.
11. Next Steps: Okay, We've read through
several stories, broken, went down completely and created our thumbnail sketches
and a color palette. The next step is your turn. Let's just go over the
different portions of the project one more time. Think of and write your
own one-page story. Now I say one-page, but it can be anywhere from half a page to about
a page and a half. My word count goes
from about 300 to 700, averaging at about 450. Identify three different
perspectives from the story in thumbnails,
in black and white. This can be just basic sketches, or you can add value to increase
its usefulness later on. And last, create a
color palette based on the feeling and colors
of the story itself. Makes sure to add a high and
low lights to your palette. I've included the
questions which we use to break down
our first story, which is a really good way
to start if you're going off of one small
idea or feeling, it's useful to go
through that list of questions prior to writing your story so that
you can organize your thoughts before attempting
to write it all out. You certainly aren't required to start your story that way, but it can be helpful if
your thoughts are jumbled. I've also included a copy of all of the stories that
I've read in this class, as well as a copy of
my thumbnail sketches and color palette for
their first story. Join me in the next lesson
where we'll go over some of the most important
concepts that we covered, as well as some
useful information for uploading your projects and how to get in touch
with me if you have any questions or
would like feedback. I'll see you in
our final lesson.
12. Final Thoughts: You've made it. We've covered how to come
up with some story ideas, as well as what kinds
of stories would be best to break out of
your specific rut. We've also covered
how to expound upon different senses
in order to more fully encapsulate the moment
of the story in order to convey the overall
feel of the story. We've gone over how to come
up with thumbnail sketches, utilizing information
from your story, as well as how to pick out an
appropriate color palette. And now it's your turn. I really look forward to
seeing what you come up with, and I will always
offer feedback. If you're feeling stuck, I have a question
about the class, or want to chat about
something specific. Please post a comment on
the class discussion board. And I will be more
than happy to answer your questions and chat
with you about the class. Additionally, if you need a friendly critique before you are able to
finish your story, I encourage you to post your partially completed project to the class project section. And I'll be able to
make suggestions there. Thank you so much for
spending your time with me. And I really hope that this
class helps you break out of your creative rat and perhaps giving you a new love of
creative story writing. Please don't forget to
post your class project, leave a review and follow along so that you'll be
notified of my future classes. Thank you again.
Molly Barker, Lifetime Artist - Creative Entrepreneur
