The DRAWING phase of our very first Drawing, Animation & Sound (“D.A.S.”) project is now complete ! The students of the Nongyetjai school here in Nongplalai, Thailand did a fantastic job shedding their preconceived notions of realism and beauty and truly let their imaginations run wild ! During our two-day workshop at the school, the kids created hundreds of out-of-this-world characters, accessories, and backgrounds that will now serve as the initial building blocks for what will become a one-of-a-kind animated movie: the ultimate goal of all our D.A.S. efforts (though, we must admit, with the kids it often feels much more like play). 

CRE8 owes a great deal of gratitude to Lek Yomkwang –a local Thai artist, translator, CRE8 volunteer, and all around wonderful person–for helping make our days with the kids such a great success.  Through her previous experience working at youth camps in Thailand, Lek was able to fully engage the kids with fun interactive games and ice-breaking activities that enabled Ole and the rest of the CRE8 team to more completely communicate some  of the more complex ideas surrounding the creation of abstract art.  Before the drawing began, we asked the kids to set aside their traditional ideas of art and follow their creative intuition.  We encouraged them to try to think about things in a different way, to trust their pencil and draw from their hearts.  To get the creative juices flowing, Ole asked the room:

“What if instead of houses, the characters you create live in balloons? …. What if instead of cars that drive on the streets, the streets drive on the cars?”

After listening to Lek’s Thai translation, the kids’ eyes lit-up and “Oo’s” and “Ah’s” filled the room as the kids’ imaginations began to realize all the possibilities.  Hours later, when the workshop ended, it was hard to believe how many drawings had been completed !

After our time at the school, Thaillywood—the local artist residency and CRE8’s partner organization here in Nongplalai—opened its doors to the kids for a post-workshop pool-party celebration ! After enjoying a pizza lunch and a tour of the house that allowed Ole to show the kids the art that he has been working on while in Thailand, the kids went right for the pool for some outdoor fun and a much-needed break from the heat. Later, as the day came to a close, the kids gathered in the house art gallery where Marie, the host and founder of the Thaillywood Artist Residency, presented each of the kids with a sketchbook and colored pencil set—a gift that Thaillywood and CRE8 hopes will encourage the kids to further explore the lessons they’ve learned and continue expressing their own individual creativity. We can’t thank these kids enough; they produced such great artwork during our time together and were so fun to work with !

Kids at the studio of Ole Ukena at Thaillywood artist residency

Also, with the help of Los Angeles filmmaker Josh Ballinger, CRE8 is filming the entire D.A.S. process in order to create a documentary film about the experience.  Once it’s completed, we intend to share the film far and wide in hopes that it will encourage the formation of future D.A.S. projects and simply reveal to others the amazing potential that lies in any type of  cross-cultural creative collaboration.  We’re working on a teaser for the film now, and it should be up shortly !

In the coming months, the CRE8 team will begin working with kids in Germany and Spain to add ANIMATION and—you guessed it—a SOUNDTRACK to all these fabulous original drawings.  We hope for this to be just the first of many D.A.S projects to come. With anticipation, CRE8 has already begun planning for stops in Colombia, Bali, and Los Angeles. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as all the intercultural collaboration continues. For now, please enjoy all the photos from Phase 1 – Thailand !

First set of handdrawn character that will later become animated

Interview about the process

A successful collaboration