Make your own Skyfloat

Make your own SkyFloat

 

An intuitive

creative

activity

for children

and adults

 

 

What is a SkyFloat?

 

As you can see above, it’s a drawing of fantasy figures that are all joined together. In some drawings, you can see the sky through a hole in the middle of the group. You might even see the SkyFloat as a cloud in which the artist has seen all sorts of figures and tried to depict them. In a moment, you’ll be the artist creating your very own SkyFloat.

 

How do you make a SkyFloat?

 

Take a sheet of white paper (any size or shape will do), place it front of you, relax, try to think of nothing else for a moment, sense your own breathing and body, prepare for what you are about to do. You are going to use your imagination and feelings to create something beautiful, by drawing your own dream world. Whenever you’re ready, place your black marker or ink pen on the paper, then slowly and steadily start drawing the line that will be the outer edge of your SkyFloat. Draw all the way round until you return to the beginning. Let your hand move in a way that feels comfortable. If you need to go back or want to fill in a missing corner or section, go right ahead. You might even have several SkyFloats on the same page. This is your drawing, so you can’t go wrong. If you want, you can also add an inner line in the same way. Be bold and trust your own intuition.

 

 

Now look at what you’ve drawn (see example above) and try to imagine that it’s a cloud in which you can see all sorts of fantasy figures. Keep turning the paper and as soon as you see a figure, start drawing. Start with the eyes, those are most important. Then add the mouth and maybe the teeth, before moving on to the nose, ears and other details (freckles, hair, tears etc.). Add whatever you think fits with your figure. Keep going until the entire outer edge is filled (and the inner edge, if you have one). Anything is possible. The figures can be different sizes, upside-down, diagonal – it doesn’t matter. All these things make your SkyFloat more interesting – a pig with wings, a frog with rabbit ears, draw whatever your imagination sees. First finish off all the fantasy figures and then fill the space between them with patterns – circles, ovals, wavy lines, triangles, whatever.If you’re pleased with the result, you can start filling in the background with stars, moons, planets, comets and other heavenly bodies (example below).

 

Once you’ve finished drawing, go back to your SkyFloat and start colouring in the figures with poster paint, watercolours or fluorescent markers (e.g. Stabilo). If you keep the eyes and teeth white, you’ll see that they really leap out at you, much like your own eyes. When colouring in, use only the three primary colours: yellow, red and blue. You can use these three colours to make all the colours of the rainbow (seven in total). This teaches you what colours you can make and use. Before you start painting, practice using the three colours and see what colours you can mix using only the three primary colours. (Don’t forget the colour you get when you mix all three primary colours!) And again you are free to used whatever colours you like. Sometimes one colour will look much better on one figure than on another. It’s all up to you. Do whatever you feel is right. And don’t worry if you colour outside that lines. That can happen. The great thing is that you can make these little “mistakes” look great by giving them an outline with a thin black marker or pen and ink (see example below). This will give your SkyFloat a totally unique character. Give it try.

 

You have now finished your own SkyFloat and given shape to your own fantasy. If you’re anything like me, you’ll start seeing fantasy figures walking around in the real world: fat ones and thin ones, pretty and ugly, kind and nasty – but that just makes life more interesting. One last thing you can do is give names to the fantasy figures in your SkyFloat. You could do this alone or with friends, and you might even add a little story about each of the inhabitants of your SkyFloat. Perhaps you can tell us how they feel or what they think of their neighbours. You might also write a SkyFloat song or poem. The people in your SkyFloat will be glad and proud to get all this attention.

 

The more SkyFloats you make, the more fun it becomes. You run into familiar figures from time to time, and you get to know them better; the way they look, their expressions, how they laugh and cry, how they chat to their neighbours or turn their backs to them.

 

Have fun!

 

Gert (SkyFloater)

 

 

translation : Richard de Nooy (www.richarddenooy.com)