Everyone needs their own creative Renaissance
Imagine strolling the streets of an inspirational city, filling your senses with ideas to then take into a workshop to turn into new ways of thinking, drawing, and telling stories with pictures... And all while enjoying amazing food and making new friends.
That's exactly what happened at our recent Inking Abroad Visual Storytelling Creative Retreat, in late August. Everyone attending got to tick several boxes: things like turning simple drawings into mini stories; better visual structuring of information; tackling the inner critic and pushing themselves creatively; and being encouraged by others to share work and learn from each other.
In short: discovering their own personal Renaissance; a chance to refresh and possibly redirect a stronger sense of creative purpose in their life and work.
Scratching our own itch
My colleague Axelle Vanquaillie and I have done several training sessions together already, but we've always wanted to provide a richer experience for people than just a regular training session. We've also both always had an itch to stretch ourselves creatively in our visual storytelling craft, but have never found any kind of course or event that could do that.
So, we designed a retreat experience to be the ideal combination of all the things we would want: going deeper into the craft of visual storytelling; tackling some psychology of creativity as well as methods; and helping our creative community, all while soaking in an amazing inspirational city.
What we covered
With these ambitious goals in mind, we created a 3-day experience in the wonderful city of Florence that focused on the following themes:
- Creativity needs stimulus - Plenty of opportunity to soak up a range of types of inspiration, from quirky street art, to Renaissance art and history in the Galleria dell'Accademia, to the boho vibe of The Social Hub hotel venue.
- Figures tell stories - Playing with different ways of drawing figures to convey not only emotion but also problems, goals and other situations.
- Storytelling happens in layers - Exploring elements of foreground, midground and background to show a point of view, and focus attention on a subject, context, and mood.
- Organising content - Trying out different layouts and using a 'hero element' to show the essence of any communication piece.
- Trying new ways of working - Experiencing different materials (such as pastels, charcoal, different surfaces and patterns) as well as silent collaborative drawing.
- Getting over ourselves - Understanding the Inner Critic, and letting it go for greater creative confidence and better results.
Responses
Both Axelle and I have been blown away by the responses of attendees so far. This article by Susanne Krogh-Hansen captures her personal (and really cool) journey throughout the retreat, and this comment says so much:
I stumbled into a completely new style of characters. They’re looser, more alive. Less “here is a drawing of a person” and more “here is a character with something to say.”
Other comments:
"We left Florence with fresh perspectives, new friendships, and a deepened passion for our craft as graphic facilitators and visual note-takers." - Robert De Groot
"Grateful for the opportunity to share ideas, explore new perspectives, and push the boundaries of visual storytelling together. These kinds of experiences don’t just spark creativity — they elevate it." - Kirsten De Coninck
Will there be another retreat...?
Absolutely! Axelle and I will run another retreat next year in Florence, and we're already thinking about other cities to host our Inking Abroad creative retreats in, too.
If you're interested, you can join the waitlist over on inkingabroad.com, and be the first to know when the next retreat is scheduled, and first in line for places.
