Eujin Kim Neilan's

Imagine a Dragon

School Presentation

Classroom Presentations for Children

Inspiring the Young Artists

Eujin Kim Neilan greatly enjoys visiting schools and considers it a privilege to interact with the children and get feedback from them. As a mother of two children, she has focused on building a program with educational value and parallels to their curriculum as well as inspiring the young artist. She encourages students' active participation in cozy discussions of the different steps in illustrating a book. She also brings many visual materials to support her presentation for easy understanding. Her program runs in two parts. After participatory discussion of storybook illustration, the students are guided in creating individual art projects.

Grade Levels : K - 4rd Grade

Audience Size : 20-25 students

Length : 60 minutes

Fee : Please contact

Requirements : Two music stands or easels to display artwork and other materials.

Each child needs one black marker and some crayons.

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An Introduction to Dragons

1. Storytelling

Eujin Kim Neilan's presentation is based on her book Imagine a Dragon (written by Laurence Pringle). Her storytelling and readings from the book introduce the students to many types of dragon stories from around the world.

Each dragon, from countries as diverse as Egypt, Norway and Greece, is illustrated in a style inspired by the art and traditions of its culture of origin. Eujin also focuses on comparing the contrasting nature of Western and Eastern dragon myths.

The process of storybook

2. The Three I's of Illustration

The story readings are intermingled with Eujin Kim Neilan's presentation on the process of storybook illustration, which emphasizes the importance of imagination, inspiration and information.

Imagination

In illustrating her favorite Korean folktales, Eujin used vivid mental images first formed during her own childhood reading. Students share their own visualizations of a story read aloud by Eujin.

Inspiration

Eujin simply defines inspiration as "any kind of help to create something new." Examples discussed include reflection of the Great Pyramid, Viking motif and Greek vase in her paintings.

Information

In order to give accurate information to the reader, Eujin researches the subject before she illustrates. She explains what kind of background details would be needed and how and where to search for it

Step by Step

3. The Stages of Illustration

Eujin describes the process of illustrating from the initial reading of the manuscript to the completion of her paintings. She shares examples from her sketchbooks to demonstrate what it takes to plan a final illustration. Then she shows a step-by-step process of the mixed-media method used in her paintings.

Sharing Their Inner Dragons

4. Student Participation

After the discussion, the student project begins with a guided visualization exercise. Eujin has the kids close their eyes and listen to a dragon story. She asks them to pay attention to details while imagining the dragon's shapes and colors. Next, she hands out a sheet of geometric shapes and a simple dragon outline and asks the students to draw what they saw, adding shapes and colors to the outline. Eujin also asks students to write a sentence describing their dragons. If time permits, the whole class shares their dragons with each other.

School List

Lilja School, Natick MA

Bennet-Hemenway School, Natick MA

Bowen Elementary School, Newton MA

Memorial Spaulding School, Newton MA

Cabot School, Newton MA

Woodville School, Wakefield MA

Memorial School, Natick MA

Blanchard School, Boxborough MA

St. John School, Wellesley MA

Center School, Hopkinton MA

The Pittaway Kindergarten School, Ashland, MA

Walnut Hill School, Natick MA

TLC Preschool, Natick MA

“Students’ imagination and creativity are sparked by Eujin’s carefully constructed presentation. After the program, they are eager to create their own dragon!”

Cheryl Nelson

Creative Arts and Sciences Committee Curriculum Resource Center, Newton MA

Exceptionally well prepared . . . Your materials were fabulous, and how you broke down your artistic process was beyond excellent. This all combined to make for a well-planned, smooth-running, very timely program . . . I thank you for the great day with the kids. You are an AMAZING artist!

Amy Mistrot

School Committee, Natick

The kids and the teachers were raving about you. Especially the upper school students. They said it was the best presentation because it really taught them how to go from an "inspiration" to a creation. Thanks so much for a wonderful experience.

Daphne Gutz

Coordinator of the Enrichment programs for St. John School in Wellesley

Imagine a Dragon

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