Telling Stories in Image and Word

Through discussions and developmental exercises you will gain transferable skills across several areas of creative endeavour and would therefore be valuable for several different directions in further study. During the course you will gain greater visual literacy and an understanding of principles that cross disciplines from print to film to gaming that will prove an excellent stepping stone to gaining knowledge and confidence.

The course will focus on completing a series of diverse developmental exercises in word and images. As well as a collected body of work, your final coursework could explore the destination format of either a self-published ‘zine’, an illustrated short story, a short spoken-word script or a storyboard relating to a proposed short film or animation. Overall, the final portfolio of work would express principles explored in the course sessions, presented to a portfolio standard also useful for future applications to Higher Education.


Topics Covered

• Illustration
• Character development
• Moving image
• Drawing moving image
• Scripted word
• Visual literacy
• Filmic visual language

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course you should:

• Understand why stories are important and how they can be constructed in image and word
• Understand that even the smallest stories deserve a thoughtful telling
• Explore character diversity: the importance of creating characters and how interesting characters create interesting stories
• Understand how stories can tell themselves, given the right creative soil
• That any number of skills – if refined and explored imaginatively - can create engaging, fulfilling storytelling

Follow Up Courses

After you have completed this course you may be interested in Animation and Illustration Portfolio Preparation and Experimental Film and Moving Image.