Storystorm 2021 Day 8: Slime Flies When Ashley Belote’s Having Fun

That excercise sounds like so much fun!!

Frankenslime!!! So clever.

A local restaurant used large sheets of brown craft paper as table cloths and provided everyone with a menu AND a set of crayons. Was so much fun to eat surrounded by our imagination.

Thanks for the reminder to have fun, Ashley! I need some to free up my mind. Meanwhile, I’m excited to read both slime books.

Ohhh, I LOVE this approach to freeing the imagination! Big sheet of paper, here I come! Thanks, Ashley!

Sometimes I forget how freeing making something can be to get my writing kick started. Thanks’

Thanks Ashley! I love the story of your mom bringing home pieces of billboard to draw on! I’m so going to try this creative jumpstart technique. Fun!

Slime is definitely a winner and your tips for letting go and getting creative were terrific. Thank you

Have never thought of doing this type of exercise before – sounds like I’m going to have some good slimes indeed! Thank you for sharing.

Sounds like so much fun- non-dominant hand is hard enough but eyes closed-eek! This sounds like a great activity to do with the 7 year old as well. Will try it later

Slime! I love it. Thank you for sharing. T

The piece that stuck out for me with this post was that incredible technique of freeing the brain towards creativity by hampering both vision and the dominant side of the brain, then engaging with something tactile. I think I’ll put some slime on the left side my writing desk and let it work its magic. Thanks!

Thanks for the great tip!

Terrific brainstorming ideas, Ashley – And bigger paper definitely helps! Thanks for the tip!

What a fantastic idea for a picture book. Slime. It is EVERYTHING to kids! This book can be given as a birthday present to a BFF with you guessed it…homemade slime, teachers can read this book and then have the class make slime…how fun is that for a lesson? Great concept! Best of Luck!

Thanks for a great post, Ashley. This reminds me to make some slime with my daughter this weekend! And thanks for the great drawing exercise! Looking forward to your books!

I am a person who tends to be more analytical so I must try this.

Carolina girls, represent! 🙂 Way to go, Ashley! Excited for your success, and so enjoyed this exercise! I don’t think I have much in the way of artistic talent, but I still find these visual prompts really work well for me! Thanks for the inspiration! Congratulations and I can’t wait to read and see your wonderful illustrations for Frankenslime!

Carolina Girls, represent! 🙂 What a wonderful post, Ashley! Big congratulations and blessings for continued success!!! You know, I don’t think I have much in the way of (visual) artistic talent, but I still find these visual prompts really help me! Thank you for the inspiration. I came up with a fun character that I plan to play around with!

Ashley, what a fantastic exercise to get our imaginations flowing! Thank you!

Ahhh slime – I think most parents have a love/hate relationship with it! Ha!

I’m going to try this. Thanks for sharing your process.

Can’t wait to try this!

Thanks for the inspiration. I just bought some new colored pencils and they make me feel the way I did as a kid – all the possibilities.

Thank you for this tip! I look forward to your book.

This looks like so much fun. You’re right I forget to have fun before, during and while writing. I love tactile projects too. Congratulations on two fun publications.

I don’t know about billboard paper, but the local newspaper office sells the left over rolls of newsprint. 🙂

Getting out my markers and wide freezer paper now! Great suggestion for inspiration and fun. Thank you.

Slime is so much fun 🙂 And I’m not an illustrator but drawing certainly unlocks creativity.

Thanks for the fun inspiration. Wish I could draw beyond crude stick figures.
Love you illustrations.

Yes! Giant paper is so inspiring. Love that you have an MA in arts administration (analytical mind?) and are a playful illustrator as well. Love the title-Listen Up Louella! Thank you for sharing!

Being an artist must be freeing to create from a blank canvas, I guess the rest of us are a little inhibited but tried your exercise and have a story idea that I’m going to work on. Thanks

As a stick figure artist, I love the concept of creating with this simple exercise. This is also something so fun I can do with my kiddos to help them spur their own creativity and storytelling. I can’t wait to read your slime books- how fun!

What fun! Thanks for letting me a child~like artist for a moment!

I LOVE this reminder to play! Perhaps it is more important than ever when the world feels more serious than ever. And your illustrations are gorgeous. Thank you!

Ashley, this is such a fun wonderful post with so many suggestions to get creative. Thank you.

I love the art exercise and will definitely be trying it!

So fun and creative. I’ll be on the look out for your books. Thank you, Ashley!

Great ideas. I am a writer but you have inspired me to create from another angle, i.e., visually first and so I think I’ll have a go at it! Slimes a-wasting… lol!

Great post – I look forward to fun! Thanks for the inspiration.

Interesting. This book sounds really good. I am looking forward to it and to see your work. I have absolutely no drawing skills, but you gave me some hope. Lol.

My kids and students LOVE slime! I think playing with it is so good for the brain. As a “serious” artist I sometimes have trouble playing. This is a good reminder to play!!

This is like a DIY Rorschach test for picture books! I loved this idea so much I did it today and came up with an awesome idea from what “drew”! Thank you so much!

This is an exercise that frees up the mind, as much for a writer as an illustrator.

Love the illustration with all the different types of slime!

Ashley, this is awesome! As an aspiring author/illustrator, I do lots of blind gestures that somehow magically turn into creatures… but I haven’t used this exercise as a means of writing brainstorming. Such a great way to thing simultaneously about words and pictures!

Love the book cover! Can’t wait to try your fun technique. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Ashley!

The drawing exercise to mine ideas sounds so promising. Thanks for the idea!

Art can provide the path to finding new ideas – no matter how well you can draw. Thank you for guiding us through this process and helping us brainstorm.

I loved this idea. I have had large paper sitting around for decades. Literally. And I am going to pull them out to sketch scene pages for a HUGE storyboard where I am stuck in the digital small screen . THANKS FOR THIS!

Thanks for sharing. Your billboard paper drawings reminds me of the end rolls of newspaper that my mom brought home for me to draw on.

Looking for the biggest piece of paper I can find. Thank you!

Thanks for the reminder to play. and I love your idea for the creative drawing exercise.

This was such a fun exercise! My 7 year old loved creating alongside me the other day. Thank you for inspiring a fun afternoon. Still very clear that I should stick with writing instead of drawing. Ha!

This exercise will definitely be a challenge for me! But I always love hearing from an illustrator’s perspective. Thank you.

Great idea! We used to do the left-hand (or non-dominant hand) exercise in drawing 101 in my BFA program. I loved it- especially bc I was so rigid and trying to make everything so perfect and realistic. I loved this exercise as a way to think abstractly and loosen up!

Thank you!

I like the idea of changing up your habits/process, such as switching hands, to see where it leads. Thanks!

Love this idea!

Sounds like great fun!

What a fun way to find your next idea! Thank you!

Hi Ashley- What a creative idea! And your story makes me want to go and play with slime!

A slime fest! I think it sounds like a good way to spend a pandemic afternoon.

Great post Ashley! Thank you for the ideas!

Hilarity rules in this exercise — thanks for the inspiration, Ashley!

Slime is cathartic!!

Good advice!

Great post Ashley, love the “Once upon a slime!”Word-play and how you found inspiration in analyzing your subject in a very hands-on way (also identified with the Pinterest fails because who hasn’t had those! Haha) Also truly appreciated your suggestion of using a giant sheet of paper. I filled one this quarantine with all adorable robot drawings and I would agree it was magical! I didn’t know I could do that! Thanks for sharing your insight!

I love this fun post! Frankenslime sounds like a great book that I would love to read! Thank you for sharing this inspirational post!