I ran some improv storytelling sessions at the Awesome Arts Festival this week – where the kids came up with the ideas, and I illustrated them live! Huge thanks to all the amazing young storytellers who came along and offered up madcap characters, preposterous plot points and epic endings.
Session 1: ‘Luca the Heartbroken Toaster’
Wednesday October 1, 11:15am-12:15pm
In which Rosita, the sea star-girlfriend of Luca the Toaster is kidnapped by the evil Captain Bob, the intergalactic Butter Pirate. Captain Bob is called a Butter Pirate not because he steals butter, but because his body is a chunk of butter. Captain Bob flies off into space in his ship, the Blendar 1, with Rosita in a cage beside him.
Join me for a laugh-out-loud session where the kids are in charge. Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because we’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard – which I will illustrate, live.
DATE: Wednesday 1 and Friday 3 October TIME: 11:15am each day WHERE: Education Room, State Library of WA, Francis St, Perth AGES: 6-12yo BOOKINGS: essential via trybooking
Oct 4: Comic illustration workshop (for kids) **SOLD OUT**
Join this workshop where I’ll show you how to create characters, use speech bubbles, sound effects, panels and backgrounds to create your own comic stories.
DATE: Saturday 4 October TIME: 1-3pm WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo AGES: 7-14yo BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite – **sold out, but there is a waitlist**
Oct 11: illustration workshop (for adults)
Want to learn how to illustrate picture books? Join me in this session to find out how. Suitable for ages 16+.
Topics include:
Research
Planning (storyboards and dummy books)
Media testing and final artwork
Characters
Point of view, image boundary, colour, medium, line quality, font, composition
Words vs pictures
Preparing a portfolio and submitting to publishers.
DATE: Saturday 11 October TIME: 12:30-4:30 WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo AGES: 16yo+ BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
Oct 24: Mantle Conference for Teacher Librarians, Newcastle
I’m presenting at this year’s Mantle Conference in Newcastle, along with superstars Deborah Abela, Sean E Avery, Charlotte Barkla, Megan Daley, Kate Foster, Lara Cain Gray and Kirli Saunders. What a line up!
I know we’ve all just finished a busy busyBUSY term 3, but …
… now it’s time for some fun school holiday workshops!
I’ve got a great new collaborative storytelling event at the Awesome Festival called Spontaneous Stories … and a comics workshop at Fremantle Library.
I’ve got some other events around town too but they’ve already booked out, so these are the only ones that still have tickets (at the time of making this post). Best get in quick!
I’ve got a brand new session planned for the Awesome Arts festival this year called SPONTANEOUS STORIES.
Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because we’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard – which I will illustrate, live!
It’s 50% workshop, 50% performance, 110% improv, 25.3% carbohydrates, and may contain traces of tree nuts. You’ll even be able to download the story as a pdf from my website afterwards.
DATE: Thursday September 26th WHEN: – 10:30am -> 12:00pm (SESSION SOLD OUT) – 12:30pm -> 2:00pm (new session added) WHERE: State Library of Western Australia, Perth BOOKINGS: essential. Buy tickets here.
It’s a fantastic kids’ art festival right here in my hometown of Perth, featuring theatre, dance, visual arts and more. It’s a brilliant way to keep the kids occupied in the September/October school holidays.
As always, I’m presenting some cartooning and comics workshops for young’uns.
Details below!
SEPT 23, 26 – Super Secret Short Story Comic Strips (for kids)
Join me for hands-on writing and drawing workshops making comic strip stories. Your subject – secret agents!
I’ll show you how to draw Max Mole and other characters from my new graphic novel series Secret Agent Mole, and guide you in creating your own short story comics. Invent villains, devise gadgets, and draw dramatic battles. Who will win in your comic? You decide.
There will be three workshops in two different locations – details below.
KELMSCOTT WORKSHOPS (ARMADALE HUB)
DATE: Saturday 23 September WHEN: 10am-10:45am OR 2pm-2:45pm WHERE: Kelmscott Hall, Bilya (River Room), 60 River Road Kelmscott AGES: 6yo + TICKETS: On sale now!
STATE LIBRARY WORKSHOP (PERTH)
DATE: Tuesday 26 September WHEN: 11:30am-12:30pm WHERE: The Education Room, State Library of Western Australia AGES: 8-12yo TICKETS: On sale now!
Spring has sprung, and so have the writers festivals!
The next two months are absolutely chock-a-block with fantastic festival events.
There’s an online workshop for the Brisbane Writer’s Festival, plus in-person events with the Quantum Words Festival, the Scribblers Festival, the Awesome Festival, the Melville Storylines Festival and the Lit Centre’s Celebrate Reading Conference (which may as well be a festival).
I even have an exhibition coming up all about Animals in Space.
James Foley 