Merit Comics: Creative Freedom update
Completed group zine featuring each students' artwork.
Year 2 sees us welcome back illustrator Rumbi Savanhu to work with Merit PRU in Bucknall.
Rumbi Savanhu
Photo Credit: Jenny Harper
We are incredibly excited about this partnership - from the very first planning session when Rumbi and several of the students spent time geeking out about Manga and their favourite Studio Ghibli films we knew we’d found someone special to work with.
The workshops focussed on fundamentals like character design, landscape drawing, anatomy, gesture and colour theory. Working with Rumbi the school team saw an increase in their student’s confidence and ambition, developing skills in using ProCreate to create digital drawings as well as the staff gaining a better sense of what can be achieved with an iPad and a stylus - their confidence has grown as well.
Over the time line of the project Rumbi and the staff observed many changes in the students; quieter students began volunteering to participate in drawing exercises at the front of class; pupils who normally sat alone began to join other tables so they could work together. Students started to help each other where technical questions arose from using the digital software. Students were asking to have their work printed out so they could take it home to show family.
At the heart of this project is the importance of art and design for well-being and confidence. Working with students on some of the fundamental building blocks of visuals arts but channeling it through their interests to give it relevance and meaning for them. We can’t wait to see what happens in Year 2!
Students engaged in a drawing exercise on a whiteboard.
Photo credit: Jenny Harper
Rumbi Savanhu website: https://www.marykeepsgoing.com