With four young children at home, Louie Castiglioni, art teacher at Landstown Elementary School, was disappointed that he no longer had the time for an after school art club. In order to provide extra enrichment for his students, he came up with the great idea of assigning weekly sketchbook homework. He began recording drawing tutorials and posting them to YouTube and his class website and assigning them as optional homework.

“When I introduced the concept to my students they were very receptive,” said Castiglioni. “The students could watch the videos, pause it if they needed to and then complete their assignment. I encouraged the kids to go above and beyond what the video shows and to make a work of art all their own”

The homework videos featured special guests, including students, teachers and local artists. The students who chose to participate began seeing themselves grow and improve as they filled their homework sketchbooks up, one drawing at a time. Castiglioni chose to use sketch books because they are a big part of an artist’s repertoire, a place where creative problem-solving takes place.

After the initial success of the videos, he and Todd DeWees, Landstown’s reading resource teacher, got together to figure out a way to incorporate a literacy component into the art homework. The duo came up with the idea to “crowdsource” the illustration of a children’s book written by DeWees. With the help of several generous volunteers, they created “Draw Me A Story,” a series of 10 YouTube videos.

Each episode of “Draw Me A Story” features DeWees reading one page of his book. Next, Castiglioni, along with art teacher Binta Smith, provide guidance on how students can illustrate that page. The library even does a segment at the end where they explain some of the features of the library and encourage students to visit and check out books. There are plenty of shenanigans and silly components mixed into the videos as well such as the “Don’t-Cut-Reading-and-Art-Out-Of-Your-Life Haircut Spinning Wheel” and an absolutely ridiculous opening song.

Another facet of this project is the incorporation of professional illustrators. Castiglioni contacted illustrators from around the globe and asked them to make videos in order to share how they make their art. The illustrator videos are meant to inspire the kids and provide insight into the process of how a professional artist works. Wendy Rasmussen, Helena Bogosian, Kate Cosgrove, Silvia Cheung and Nora Hilb, all award-winning, international artists, were kind enough to participate.

The online sketchbook tutorial concept will continue this school year.

“If you or anyone you know is interested in participating, we have extended the deadline to submit artwork for the ‘Draw Me A Story’ project until Nov. 30,” Castiglioni said. “Anyone anywhere is welcome to participate.”

Completed artwork will be displayed in a special art show later this year at the Joint Use Library. See below for some examples of illustrations that have already been turned in.

For more information, visit: http://louiscastiglioni.wix.com/landstownart#!sketchbook-homework/ce2k or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIopMU-q1mns6662vLc4WMg