Storytelling through art

My first journey of storytelling through art occurred in Kindergarten. However it wasn’t until first grade that I actually expanded out more beyond painting stick figures.

Vividly I recall being handed a book called “Social Science Reader” (in 1974), which I have still to this day, and being in awe of the art alone in the book beyond the stories.

One story that stood out to me is called “Juan Hope and the Old Building”. Initially it was about 2 boys being bored, exploring an old building, and learning a lesson when one friend falls and got hurt.

I was initially impressed by the amazing painting that was done for this story. Yet I had hoped to achieve such a level later if I stayed with it storytelling through art. That would not be until a few grades later. Keep reading.

Below here I have included more pictures from the book. I can only imagine the artist was about 5 or 6 years old, but couldn’t have been much older than I was at the time, but he was definitely ahead of his time in visual design.

Examine the shadows alone on the edge of the buildings. He understood light and refraction at such a young age!

As I peer at the book now, many years later into my late adult years, I can appreciate what he accomplished, even.

See where the guy is hanging from the window? To the right side the colors are lighter since they are facing the light from that direction. At that age, my mind had not even evolved at that level yet.

Storytelling through art

Not long after my experience with reading this book, I began work on my own stories. At that time, I was also interested in reading simple detective stories such as “The Three Investigators”.

So I came up with my own version, which nearly copied after the “Juan Hope” story. I didn’t even understand plagiarism then.