Past Project Zone
Healthy Start
The Healthy Start Project was a 12 week initiative that involved:
• Aelfgar 6th Form Centre
• Blake Technology College
• Fair Oak Business and Enterprise College
• Hagley Part Sports College
Pupils from the four schools worked with artists, school health advisors and Community Wellbeing-Arts, to produce a series of artworks suitable for a health environment, inspired by issues that affect young people.
Students worked alongside School Health Advisors to understand more about youth health issues. They also watched 'Turbulence', a film created by Cannock Chase High School pupils that also focused on health issues, for further inspiration.
This project also meant that this was the first time some of the pupils from the different schools had worked together.
Creating the Story
Students worked with creative writer Rebecca Hardy to explore how to produce realistic short stories based around health themes. Students learned how to break stories down to a maximum of 10 short descriptive sentences. By using the descriptive sentences students were then able to sketch storyboards.
Creating the Imagery
Using digital photography, participants each played a character from their story and photographed scenes to represent the drawings in their storyboard. The digital photographs were then digitally traced in Illustration software to create ink outlines. Using the same professional software, students coloured the outlines to create their characters.
Students used Comic Life Software to firstly layout their frames followed by the speech/thought bubbles and narrative boxes. The second task was to import the digital photographs of the scenes they acted out. This creates a photographic version of the comic. Lastly the students replaced their photographs with the final illustrations.
The School Health Advisors looked at the comic strips to ensure any health information was correct, before the final production.
Final touches were then added by the lead artist who then saved the artwork for print.
The final panels were then printed direct onto 5mm foam board and mounted onto display boards.
What Next?
Both Rugeley Leisure Centre and the Museum of Cannock Chase have exhibited the work, and the initiative itself will be rolled out to further high schools from September 2007.
• Aelfgar 6th Form Centre
• Blake Technology College
• Fair Oak Business and Enterprise College
• Hagley Part Sports College
Pupils from the four schools worked with artists, school health advisors and Community Wellbeing-Arts, to produce a series of artworks suitable for a health environment, inspired by issues that affect young people.
Students worked alongside School Health Advisors to understand more about youth health issues. They also watched 'Turbulence', a film created by Cannock Chase High School pupils that also focused on health issues, for further inspiration.
This project also meant that this was the first time some of the pupils from the different schools had worked together.
Creating the Story
Students worked with creative writer Rebecca Hardy to explore how to produce realistic short stories based around health themes. Students learned how to break stories down to a maximum of 10 short descriptive sentences. By using the descriptive sentences students were then able to sketch storyboards.
Creating the Imagery
Using digital photography, participants each played a character from their story and photographed scenes to represent the drawings in their storyboard. The digital photographs were then digitally traced in Illustration software to create ink outlines. Using the same professional software, students coloured the outlines to create their characters.
Students used Comic Life Software to firstly layout their frames followed by the speech/thought bubbles and narrative boxes. The second task was to import the digital photographs of the scenes they acted out. This creates a photographic version of the comic. Lastly the students replaced their photographs with the final illustrations.
The School Health Advisors looked at the comic strips to ensure any health information was correct, before the final production.
Final touches were then added by the lead artist who then saved the artwork for print.
The final panels were then printed direct onto 5mm foam board and mounted onto display boards.
What Next?
Both Rugeley Leisure Centre and the Museum of Cannock Chase have exhibited the work, and the initiative itself will be rolled out to further high schools from September 2007.