Reuban Santiago works diligently at an Illustrators Workshop held Aug. 4 at the New Kituwah Academy. The intent of the workshop, sponsored by the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP), was to facilitate the creation of original books and reading materials written in the Cherokee language for use by the students at New Kituwah Academy who read books in the Cherokee Syllabary. Published professional children’s book illustrator Deborah Durland DeSaix was on hand to give tips and advice on storyboarding, reader perspective, illustrating tips, the differences between fine art and illustrating and much more. Based on the technique of each artist, they were assigned an original story from previous KPEP Writers Workshops. By the end of the day, each participant had created a “dummy” book with preliminary sketches and ideas for how they would illustrate their book. (Photo by Billie Jo Rich/KPEP)
