On the first day of our Digital Media Production Studio, we did a visual storytelling exercise. We recalled details for the prompts “car” or “vehicle” and also “food.”

We worked two minutes writing down a list of the cars we could think of from our life. Then we spent another several minutes writing down the details of the most memorable car from our list. Who is with you. What do you feel. What is the day like? What is above, below, beside you etc.

After writing down the details we could remember, we spent six minutes writing down the story that we recalled using our memories as building blocks.

We then took turns reading our stories while the listeners drew spirals without looking at the reader.

The final step was to draw a scene from the story we just heard. We repeated this process over and over until we had heard seven stories and made seven images. One person had to leave early and only made three, so that is why one stack of images is shorter. These pictures are arranged in order the stories were told and when you look at these side by side, you can compare the similarities and differences.

What a great way to start a new semester! (Hat tip to Lynda Barry’s Writing the Unthinkable workshop.)