On drawing and togetherness, everywhere and anywhere
Nicky Parker, Amnesty International Poland
Drawing brings us together
A week after World Children’s Day, it’s a total joy to be part of a Seen and Heard online drawing workshop with illustrator Chris Riddell and children from schools in Malta, Berlin and Wroclaw.
Together, we’re on a journey of creative discovery. Chris is the former UK Children’s Laureate and this is his fourth workshop with Seen and Heard, which is all about children’s right to freedom of expression. Today, there’s palpable excitement as the children in Wroclaw spot young people from other schools on the same screen. They know they’re part of an international project, so there’s a lot of happy waving from the start.
This time, we’d asked Chris to run a workshop that’s purely playful. In rights terminology, we’re upholding not only children’s freedom of expression but also their right to play under the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – which was designed to help children thrive. Adults have these rights too (though we tend to call it rest and relaxation rather than play).
The children (and probably most of the adults) are eagerly ready with paper and pencils. Chris begins to talk and draw with easy fluency, moving between cameras, sometimes showing his face but mostly focusing on his drawing so that we see his hand and pen moving rapidly across the paper. He starts by showing us a picture of a very splendid dragon and explains it’s from a book he’s currently working on, called The Dragon in the Tree. Then, he begins to sketch the oak tree in which the dragon lives. As he draws, he encourages the children to draw whatever they want to. To the background sound of happy chatter, he tells the story of a village expanding and trees being cut down, while an egg hatches in this tree and a baby dragon emerges, grows, flies and breathes fire…
Drawing from imagination
Then, he moves on to drawing some of his other favourite subjects – trees, robots, mermaids, towers on floating rocks, a fish on a bicycle. Part of the delight of the workshop is Chris’ steady narrative. He tells the children that drawing from the imagination lets you draw anything you like, and that he finds great happiness in drawing familiar images because it’s so calming.
‘You can lose yourself in a picture that you draw time and again,’ he says. ‘There’s no need to think, it’s very relaxing.’
For each picture, he shows the children what pen or pencil he’s using – from thinner pens to create more detail (as with his mermaid), to soft pastels that are easy to use. He shows how creating a frame on the page enables a different approach to drawing.
It’s a special moment when Chris turns the pages of his Dragon Sketchbook, showing how he plans the entire book before he embarks on final art. He explains the significance of his storyboard, the notes for each page of the book, and shares sketches of baby dragons and older dragons that show his working-out of how he wants the creature to look, as well as boxes showing where the text will go.
Now he invites the children to come forward to share what they’ve been drawing. They bring a myriad of pictures and styles, some inspired by Chris’s subjects, some individual, some black and white, others with vivid colours. There are many smiles, a sense of relaxation.
It makes me think that there’s another right involved here: freedom of thought, which is a kind of play with our minds. Because without our imaginations it would be so much harder to dream another world, express our ideas and feelings, or step inside someone else’s skin – whether they be mermaid, tree, dragon or human.
Lastly, Chris shows playing cards that he’s working on and explains how they form part of a giant picture of characters linked by shoulders and hats.
‘Drawing brings us together,’ he says. ‘Wherever we are in the world.’
