MODERN ART LESSONS · STUDENT WORKSHEET
Umbrella Squirrel: Draw a Gentle Visual Joke
Make a setup-and-surprise cartoon featuring a squirrel with an acorn umbrella. The character wants to keep an acorn dry, but the umbrella is smaller than the acorn. One possible ending: it shelters under the acorn instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
Character reference shared across ten skill lessons—not a picture of the completed assignment. Study the example for possibilities, then close or cover it. Your work should make different choices.
Story starter and example
The character wants to keep an acorn dry, but the umbrella is smaller than the acorn. One possible ending: it shelters under the acorn instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer. The object fails in an ordinary way, then becomes useful for a different purpose. A reaction pose helps the reader notice the switch.
What to do
- Your finished project is a setup-and-surprise cartoon featuring a squirrel with an acorn umbrella. Read the story seed: The character wants to keep an acorn dry, but the umbrella is smaller than the acorn. One possible ending: it shelters under the acorn instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
- Start with curled tail, small paws, and a cap-shaped umbrella. These are helpful shapes, not a tracing template.
- Choose a harmless expectation from the story and a surprising outcome. Keep the joke about the situation, not a person’s body or identity.
- Draw a setup that gives the viewer enough information to expect one result.
- Draw the surprising result and a clear reaction. Remove explanations that give away the surprise too early.
- Ask a partner what they expected and what surprised them. If the ending seems random, strengthen the setup. Use large, clear shapes and show one understandable change.
My project: a setup-and-surprise cartoon featuring a squirrel with an acorn umbrella. My chosen ending is…
The viewer expects… Instead…
Setup sketch… Surprise sketch…
Is the joke kind? What clue makes the surprise understandable?
Story clue: How will I show that the character the umbrella is smaller than the acorn?
Before feedback, I wanted the reader to notice… The reader actually noticed…
Revision: I changed… because…
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