Visual storytelling: a workshop by Scriberia

There is no writer, in my opinion, who is so much a painter and a black-and-white artist as Dickens. His figures are resurrections. (Vincent van Gogh, 1883)

Dickens was a master in conjuring word-pictures to give shape and power to ideas. He also commissioned some of the best illustrations in literary fiction. How might the rest of us learn from him to communicate better through images?

Scriberia is an internationally celebrated studio of animators, illustrators and storytellers. Like Dickens, they are masters of metaphor, caricature and visual storytelling. And, in this workshop, they aim to share some of their secrets of using these methods to create pictures that get to the heart of any matter.

Scriberia made the illustration above. But you don’t have to be good at drawing to take part. If you’re a writer who draws to develop characters and locations, a budding cartoonist in need of the images to match your ideas, or if you’re just someone looking to give your Powerpoint presentations a creative lift, this session will help you bridge the gap between words and pictures. You just need to be prepared to pick up a pencil and have a go.

We’ll be learning to use the visual alphabet, distilling the essence of favourite stories in book cover designs and turning the plots of famous novels into engaging infographics. So join us for a challenging and fun-filled workshop designed for any adult with something to say – and who wants to say it well in the age of visual communication.

Scriberia hail from just up the road in Kings Cross. Underpinning all of their work is the belief in the power of pictures to shape and communicate ideas.