We recently fell in love with an image on Pinterest of the most whimsical fantasy bookshelf, where the books were turned into buildings and little creatures inhabited the shelves, and each shelf appeared to be a little world all by itself. This fantasy-esque Colin Thompson Inspired Art Project was a wonderful middle school lesson.
There was no original source cited on Pinterest and it took a lot of digging, but we finally found the original artist who created these amazing illustrations! His name is Colin Thompson, an author and illustrator, and these drawings are from a book called How to Live Forever.
We were excited to inspire our 9-14 yr. old classes by Colin Thompson’s artwork! In this watercolor pencil drawing lesson, students were challenged to draw their own fantasy bookshelves, referencing either their favorite books or ones that they read most recently. They were challenged to be very detailed and draw in miniature, incorporating characters and scenes from the books as well as architectural and outdoor elements, literally creating an entire little whimsical world on a shelf. The kids had such a fun time working on these and they turned out amazing! It really stimulated their imaginations! At one point, I overheard them talking amongst themselves and someone posed the question, “What if WE are just tiny little characters on someone’s giant bookshelf?!” hmmmmm
