The Inspiration

Steven Kellogg is an author and illustrator of picture books — many, many picture books! He's published about 110 books in the 45 years he's been writing and illustrating, many of which he's written himself. He's also illustrated a great many titles by other authors.

He has always loved to draw and the way that pictures can deepen and expand the text of a story — creating what he calls a "beautiful duet." Kellogg started building this connection as a child, "telling stories on paper" to his two younger sisters, making up fanciful stories, and creating quick illustrations one after another to accompany the tales.

The Prompt

In a number of his books, Steven Kellogg retells classic tales. In revitalizing often told fairy tales and tall tales, Kellogg makes some exciting and interesting word and illustrative choices to build tension and drama, as well as to bring humor to his retellings. Create your own animated retelling of the classic "The Three Bears." Your version of the story can be very traditional, modernized, or even "fractured."

Write It

An animation script is very detailed. Whatever you write, you are going to have to animate, so you'll want to be very clear about the actions of your characters, as well as thinking creatively about how to illustrate those actions. For example, if a character is going upstairs, will you show the character on the staircase or just show the character behind a staircase railing? Animation often has less dialogue between characters; the action is often more central to telling the story than what the characters have to say.

Submit your animation script.

Film It

There are lots of different ways to create animation. Check out these Resources and check into the resources that you have. The type of animation you decide to use will depend on available materials and equipment.

Upload your animated film.

Resources

• Cinemation: The Story Behind Animation
• Alice
• The Toon Institute's Free Animation Course
• Drawing for Classical Animation
• Brickfilming: Making Stop Motion Animation with LEGO or Other Brick-like Elements
• The Pixar Process
• Sample Animation Script: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
• Sample Animation Script: Toy Story
• Sample Animation Script: A Goofy Movie

More about Steven Kellogg

• Biography
• Bibliography
• Video Interview  (Reading Rockets)
• Official Steven Kellogg Website
• The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, Episode 11: A Second Arm by Steven Kellogg
• The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, Episode 20: An Angel Descends by Steven Kellogg
• Educator Resources for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure (The NCBLA)