Below are some more recent examples of the second exercise I've set for patients involved in the project (see WEEKS 2 - 3 for rules and further examples). I understand that writing and committing to a narrative in the traditional sense can be quite daunting at first, so this exercise aims to demonstrate the ways in which stories can be told in a more abstract way.
As with all exercises that make up the Storytelling project, there is no right/wrong to carry out this task, so it's been really great to see the different ways in which patients approach it.
I'm hoping that patients will use their experiences of participating in this task to inform the creative decisions they make when we come to producing final artworks - use of colour can be a great way to communicate emotion when words seem tricky.
Above are further examples of the results of a drawing exercise I've been doing with new recruits to the Storytelling Project (see WEEKS 1 - 2 for rules of the task and more examples). The point of this silly, fun exercise is to both demonstrate to and encourage patients, particularly those who are not confident at drawing, in their ability to create characters and capture the essence of an animal/object/person even with their eyes closed.
The results of this task are always hilarious, but ultimately often prove that when the fear that comes with focusing in on minute detail is taken away, everyone has it within them to produce fantastic, honest, bold and recognisable art, akin to primitive cave paintings. Although this task is not about producing 'accurate' illustrations, many patients are impressed by the level of accuracy with which they are able to depict familiar things whilst drawing with eyes closed.
In relation to the narrative element of the project, this task was designed as a warm up but also to allow patients who were not confident in drawing the opportunity to experiment with drawing for fun and to show the ways in which they might like to incorporate their own character design at a later stage in the project.
