SPRINT BRIEF

Students will research a current environmental issue and create a cartoon board (hand-drawn or digital) that communicates the problem and raises awareness in a clear and engaging way. They will use visual storytelling, through humor, emotion, or a powerful message, to inspire others to think and act on the issue.

KARAM HOUSE PROJECT

WHAT WE ARE DOING

WHY WE ARE DOING IT

Drawing an animated cartoon strip that highlights an environmental issue.

؜Raise awareness, encourage others to think about the issue, and inspire action through visual storytelling.

Final Project Expectations

The cartoon strip clearly communicates an environmental issue and helps the viewer understand what the problem is and why it matters.

The use of characters and text (humor, emotion, or symbolism) makes the message engaging and easy to follow.

The cartoon can be hand-drawn or made digitally.

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The cartoon will include animated elements ( a moving character, special effect, animated background, etc.)

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Studio Skills

Collaboration

Concept Development

Lo-Fi Prototyping

Graphic Design

Sketching

Engagement and Persistence

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The design process will include these steps:

Story & Planning

Research & Idea Building

1

2

60 mins

Choose an environmental issue and research what it is, who it affects, and why it matters. Write down key facts and ideas you want to share.

Plan your cartoon strip. Decide on characters, setting, and message. Sketch a simple storyboard showing what happens in each frame.

SPRINT STEPS

Week 2

3

Cartoon Creation

4

؜120 mins

Create a rough version of your cartoon. You can draw it on paper or start a draft digitally (Canva). Focus on layout and storytelling.

Final Edits

؜120 mins

Finish your cartoon strip. Add color, text, and details, and at least one animated element. Make sure it is clear, easy to read, and shows care and effort.

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Wall of Cartoons & Share

Display all cartoons together as a collective wall. Walk around, view each other’s work, and share the message behind your cartoon.

Week 3

60 mins

Week 4-5

Week 1 is holiday

Week 6-7

Exhibition

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Week 2

؜Choose one environmental issue (e.g. plastic pollution, water scarcity, deforestation, air pollution, climate change, food waste). Check the library in the toolbox.

Research:

1. What is the problem?
2. Who or what is affected?
3. Why does it matter now?
4. One surprising or emotional fact.

Output

1. Short answers on the template

Research & Idea Building

1st

Week 2

60 mins

Decide how you want to communicate the issue:

1. Humor / irony
2. Emotional storytelling
3. Strong visual metaphor
4. Before vs after

Plan your cartoon:

1. Characters (people, animals, objects, the planet, etc.)
2. Setting (Location /Environment )
3. Beginning → middle → end (or single powerful scene)

Story & Planning

Week 3

60 mins

2nd

؜Cartoon Creation

؜60 min

You will now draft the elements of your cartoon:

1. Panels: based on the storyboard, how many panels and how are they laid out?
2. Backgrounds: hand-drawn or using existing backgrounds from the Canva library
3. Characters: hand-drawn and scanned or digitally drawn
4. Text: speech bubbles, panel notes, etc.

Week 4-5

3rd

؜(people, animals, objects, the planet, etc.)

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Hint: consider what emotions you can convey through eye expressions!

Draw your characters

Storyboarding Example

Insert your sketches onto Canva, follow this video

Make your background

Canva has a great library of images that you can use for your background.

Refer to your storyboard, and figure out which backgrounds you need for each panel.

(You could also hand draw your backgrounds and import them into Canva)

Make your background

Create your characters. Here, you will hand draw and import your characters into your Canva file.

Draw your characters

Note to remove the background by clicking on BG Remover

؜Here is how to remove the background by clicking on BG Remover

What will your characters say or think, and what other text needs to appear?

Add text/ speech bubbles

Group text with bubble

There will be a lot of overlapping parts in your cartoon. You can move layers forward or backward by right clicking on the object and choosing the Layer feature.

Organize your layers

For each scene you have you will create a page for it. The next page would include the frame of the past scene but now show the rest yet.

6 Pages for 6 Scenes

Desk Critiques

Group Feedback

Kinds of Feedback

There are three forms of feedback. Understanding these can help us understand the conversations we have with our teams and improve our own ability to react to and use feedback to strengthen our designs.



Reaction-Based

Feedback

Direction-Based

Feedback

Question-based Feedback

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Feedback time!

Teachers are going to move around the class and give feedback to each group!

You could also show at least one other group your cartoon once it is laid out as a full draft. They can ask questions, make suggestions, and possibly give you ideas for next steps of edits.

؜Cartoon Creation

As final steps you will make edits to your content and layout, be sure that your layers are organized properly, and add moments of animation (at least one!) to your cartoon.

Follow the next videos for more tutorials.

Week 6-7

4th

Use the animate feature to animate your characters or other elements of your cartoon.

Animate your characters

We want to be able to view the animation of your cartoon on a loop in the showcase, so export the slide as an MP4 file as shown.

Export your cartoon

Photo of Project

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Storyboard

Concept Idea

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Sketch

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Final Video