Creative Sidekick
Exhibition: Companion Species
Artist: AFA Permanent Collection - Various Artists
Overview
Our companion animals are like hero sidekicks. They provide emotional support, protect us, alert us, and support our overall well-being. Best of all, we both mutually benefit from the relationship. If we think about all the characteristics that our animal companions have, some of them are qualities that we consider to be inherently human— trustworthy, kind, intelligent, protective and loving.
In this exercise, participants will use creative prompts to create their own one-of-a-kind animal sidekick. We will brainstorm animal and human characteristics, both outlandish and everyday items, plus descriptive actions in order to develop our creative prompts. These prompts chosen at random, will help force us into new territory— expanding our creativity and imagining our companion animals as fantastical out of this world sidekicks.
Objectives
Use prompts to direct, exercise and develop spontaneous creativity.
Translate written words in to visual renderings.
Create an illustrated character.
Materials
Paper
Scissors
Pencil
Eraser
Any colouring material of your choice
Instructions:
Step One
Begin by creating your prompts. You may use the prompts listed below or you can brainstorm your own that fit in to distinct categories such as; garb, descriptive phrases, habitats, props etc. Choose 3 categories and write 10 items in each category.
Garb
Wearing glasses, wearing a vest, wearing a helmet, wearing sneakers, wearing a crown, wearing an oversized sweater, wearing plaid, wearing a watch, wearing stripes, wearing a hat, wearing a pattern, wearing boots, wearing leopard spots
Descriptive phrases
Holding a golden treasure, has a map, has a walking stick, is partly invisible, sings a bewitching song, holding a rope, sitting on a rock, holding binoculars, carrying a bag, covered in leaves, in a disguise
Habitat
Lives underground, lives in a tree, lives in a garden, lives in a fort, lives underwater, lives in a cave, lives in a shell, lives under a flower.
Variation:
Older participants can participate in the development of these prompts where as younger participants can use prompts that have already been created for them.
Step Two
Cut strips of paper in to smaller pieces. Write your creative prompts on to the small strips. Write each category in its own coloured marker or pen so you can easily sort and separate the different categories.
Step Three
Have each participant choose their animal sidekick that they wish to begin working from. They may choose a dog, cat or horse, similar to the companion animals depicted in the exhibition, or perhaps another animal that they feel a companionship to such as a bird, hamster, goat etc.
During this process we will be anthropomorphizing our sidekicks through the prompts that we are using to build their character. Participants can determine how much of their character they wish to remain animal characteristics and what becomes more human. If we look at the way animal characters are often anthropomorphized in illustrated books or animated films, we can see that they may have the head of a cat and a tail, but walk upright on two legs and wear clothing.
Step Four
Have participants choose one slip of paper at random from each category, recording their selection and returning the paper back in to the category pile for the next participant to choose from.
Step Five
On a fresh sheet of paper, use your pencil to sketch or draw your sidekick following your chosen prompts. Complete your sidekick character by colouring it using your material of choice ie. ink, coloured pencils, crayons, markers or watercolours.
