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The Storytelling Project

7/23/2016

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There is this cool organization in my city called Calgary Arts Development, which describes itself as follows:

We are a connector, facilitator, collaborator, champion, supporter, amplifier, investor, catalyst and opportunity-maker.

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From that description you can guess that their work doesn't just involve traditional support of the arts, but an active endeavour to share Calgary's creative offerings with people from all walks of life. And that's how I got to be involved in this story, as part of Calgary Arts Development's "Storytelling Project," in which local writer Stephen Hunt talked to a range of creative Calgarians about their personal versions of Calgary's arts development strategy, Living a Creative Life. The story is featured here on the Calgary Arts Development site.

I really like the idea that the city's strategy has room not only for the fine arts, but for regular folks who explore and celebrate their creativity in their own unique ways. That notion struck a chord with me, so when I was invited to draw a picture to go along with the story, that's what I drew.
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And by the way, for anyone who's interested, I thought I'd include here the "annotated version." After I drew the picture, I realized I'd put in a really random gathering of creative people (mostly my own family and friends, along with a few others who just happened to cross my mind). Just for fun, I wrote down their names, so here they are! Needless to say, it's not really an accurate cross-section of Calgary's creative population, but it'll do for a start... and I'd love to see your version of this story, too!
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TEDSummit 2016 Sketchnotes

7/11/2016

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I was fortunate to have been invited to do some graphic recording at a workshop that was happening at the Banff Centre recently. That would have been good enough on its own, since it's a venue that really can't be beat. But, even better, this particular event was part of the 2016 TED Summit. Here are some sketchnotes I drew right after my day in Banff. My experience was just a little taste of the amazing things going on during the whole summit, but definitely a delicious one!
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It was a pleasure to work with the amazing folks from TED, BMW i and the Banff Centre, who made it so easy for me show up and do my thing.

And thanks to TEDx Kyoto organizer Takayuki Mitsugi for the green tea KitKat!

Here are my notes from the session I worked at:
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Summer 2016 Catch-Up - Part 2

7/11/2016

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Calgary Summer Map

Back in 2015, local weekly Swerve Magazine published maps of Calgary by local illustrators. Back then (as one of the first things I tried drawing on a computer), I drew a map of my neighbourhood, Ramsay. This time around, with summer in Calgary as the theme, I drew a map of places of explore by transit, along with my 7-year-old transit enthusiast (and hippo-loving toddler, too). Take a look here to find Swerve's summer 2016 illustrated map feature!
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This time, I didn't draw the map on my computer (although by this time, I sure have a better handle on how to do that kind of thing, than I did when I attempted that first Swerve map). Instead, I drew it on old-fashioned paper with ink - and here's how the project developed, in case you're interested. This was the first "concept sketch":
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Then I figured out how much I'd actually be able to fit into the space and laid things out a bit more realistically (you know I always err on the side of "way too busy" - I'm always trying to cram too much in. Leaving things out is the hardest part!)
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Then I drew it all in pencil (a couple of things got changed, but not many) and then I inked it. Here's how it looked before I coloured it in!
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July 2016 Ramsay Newsletter Comic

7/11/2016

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For this month's comic strip for my community newsletter, I wrote about some neighbours who are also my friends! Without them and the wonderful child care they were able to provide for our younger son, I don't know how we would have made it through the past two years.
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Here's where you can find out more about Maria's dayhome. Highly recommended!!!
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Summer 2016 Catch-Up  - Part 1

7/11/2016

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These days things are always busy and I never find time to post things to my blog. Here's a rare moment of free time in which I can take a few of these images crowding up my desktop and put them up here to share with others!

Best of Calgary

At the Best of Calgary Supposium, I drew some live pictures to go along with four talks. But before the event, I made some graphics to give myself some idea about what the subject matter would be. Here are the pre-images and the live recordings too!




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    sam hester

    I am a graphic recorder based in Calgary. I like local stories. I write comics when I have free time. And I leave eraser shavings everywhere I go.

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    contact me

    sam@the23rdstory.com
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    my website

    www.the23rdstory.com started as a blog and now includes some information about my graphic recording practice as well.

    I also have an (old) website which features a lot of my (old) work. Look out, it's a bit clunky and there are a lot of links that don't go anywhere, but there are still a few interesting things there:
    www.thedrawingbook.com


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    Some nice things people said about my work:

    “If Breitkreuz and Foong [founders of the Calgary Comics & Entertainment Expo] represent the Type-A side of Calgary's self-publishing community, Hester may be the community's right brain.” – Tom Babin, FFWD Magazine

    “…A strong graphic style similar to other autobiographically-inclined Canadian cartoonists like Chester Brown and Julie Doucet.” – Gilbert Bouchard, Edmonton Journal

    The 23rd Story: an indie comics creator's tales of life in Calgary

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