Exaggeration for Dramatic Effect

A key element of my art teaching is the idea of 'visual storytelling.' I'm a huge believer in the transformative power of narrative, and I always encourage the young people I work with to imbue their artwork with a sense of story. For this reason, I often ask students to consider the idea of exaggeration for dramatic effect.

A great exercise in exaggeration is to create a list of animals and think about the defining visual characteristic of each one.  For example, a crocodile could be defined by its mouth and teeth, a lion by its mane, an elephant by its trunk and so on.

Below are a series of watercolour illustrations showing the sort of results students might get from carrying out this exercise.