From real life to obscure places, and online images to 3D models, a group of young children learnt how to tell their own stories through comic books during a workshop on the eleventh day of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival.

The hour-long Digital Art – Working with References workshop was part of the 10th edition of the festival, themed ‘Your Future… Just a Book Away’.

As the workshop kicked off, youngsters were taught the basics of comic book layout, in a bid for them to learn and understand the basics of setting up a layout. A set of specific exercises, with a basic script and four panels, were given to them, focusing on what a script looks like.

The children were told how to go about laying it out with what the instructor called “the establishing shot”, where they tell where the story is happening. They then introduced their character and the action, before telling their own stories in the comic book.