From Sketches To Stories with Shawne Cooper

Learn how to weave every day moments into compelling stories, using sketchbooks as places to notice, remember and record.

Everyone’s got stories to tell. But even everyday moments can be woven into a compelling chronicle. We’ll treat our sketchbooks not just as places to draw, but as places to notice, remember, and tell stories.

While many sketchers like the idea of adding text to their pages, they often freeze when it comes to what to write or how to begin. In this workshop, ​​we’ll explore simple prompts that help transform sketches into small stories.

Elizabeth Street Garden will serve as our inspiration—a small oasis full of visual details, interesting characters, and lovely scenes waiting to be captured. Participants will create sketchbook pages that weave images and writing together.

In the event of rain, the workshop will take place at Pier 57, located at 25 11th Avenue, New York, NY on the Hudson River. If this is necessary, you will receive an email the day before the workshop notifying you of the change in venue. The email will be sent to the same address you gave at Eventbrite registration.

We’ll explore:

• Writing prompts that connect what’s around us with memories and personal stories
• Ways to tap into our senses and bring the present moment into our artwork
• The art of eavesdropping and how overheard dialogue can animate a sketchbook
• How to words and images dance together on a page

By the end, our sketchbooks will hold not just images of a gorgeous oasis, but moments that capture our own lived, one-of-a-kind experiences.

No prior lettering, writing, or even sketching experience necessary: just curiosity and a willingness to play.

Workshop Supply List:

-Sketchbook;

-Notebook for writing;

-Pens; pencils;

-Black fineliner ink pen (e.g., Sakura Pigma Micron, 05 nib ideal);

-plus any additional sketching materials of your choosing (colored pencils, watercolor, gouache, markers).

-Seating is available in the garden, but bringing a stool may give you more options.

Shawne will have a variety of materials available if you’d like to try something new.

About the Instructor:

A longtime member of the NYC Urban Sketchers community, Shawne Cooper is known for her loose, colorful style and her love of weaving words and images together on the page. She is an award-winning copywriter and creative director and brings that storyteller’s sensibility to her sketches.

Shawne also loves encouraging others to do the same, and has taught popular workshops on combining art and writing for NYC Urban Sketchers, at Pratt Institute, the New York Public Library, and in far-flung locations, from a tiny hilltop village north of Rome to Naples and Hawai‘i.

She also enjoys creating unusual sketching experiences, leading food-crawl sketch workshops in Flushing, organizing collaborative drawing games at The Met and the Archaeology Museum in Naples, and hosting a coffee-tasting and sketching event.

Shawne’s work has been exhibited in galleries, at the Philippine Consulate, and even as a flag flying over Rockefeller Center (a Chinese dumpling flag, no less!).

Follow Shawne on Instagram @wabisabinyc

Tickets for this event are not refundable or exchangeable.