Book Inspired Activity|Watercolor Story Telling
This month’s Featured Author, Kathryn Otoshi is known for her beautiful and simple water color, seen in the books One, Two, and Zero. Kathryn Manages to tell compelling and emotional stories with simple watercolor numbers.
For this weeks activity, my son and I decided to tell our own water color stories to each other in the style of “One”.
We painted numbers, shapes, rainbows, and dots to tell a story. His were a little more “loose” than mine, given that he’s just getting the hand of this whole art thing. But the look of the images isn’t what matters the most. It’s the stories.
My Watercolor Story was very much in the vein of Kathryn Otoshis stories and utilized the numbers and colors concept.
I did some similar illustrations to the ones in Kathryn Otoshi’s “One” and told a story about all of the numbers joining together and showing their “true colors” to make a rainbow. The story emphasized the point that we can work together even if we are different.
My Son Also Told A Watercolor Story…
The pictures themselves are a bit more difficult to decipher. My son’s story had something to do with a robot that ate numbers and gobbled them up but eventually he got a tummy ache and threw up a rainbow (my rainbow).
Yup. That’s my kid.
Here’s what you need to tell your own watercolor stories.
Watercolor paints
I like these. They are good quality and require very little water to get a good water color look.
Brushes
We used these. I find that larger brushes are better. The larger brushed in this pack worked great.
Sturdy Paper
You want paper that’s made for painting and/or watercolor. Otherwise, you get a lot of leaks. I have this paint pad and it works really well for a variety of projects.
Watercolor Story Telling is Easy!
The beauty of this activity is that it’s very open ended. You can tell any story. You can tell the story in multiple pages like a book (you can even staple it into a book if you want), or you can tell the story out loud like my son and I did.
The main purpose of the activity is to use your art to tell a story and let it speak for you the way Kathryn Otoshi does. Be original and creative or just be you.
I’d love to see what you make!
You can share your creations and stories on Instagram by tagging @bookbadgerblog and using the hashtag #BookBadgerActivities!
