Character Artwork

Randomly made these one day, out of boredom, years ago.  Surprisingly I found them hidden away in one of my Lao books where some of them I had used as bookmarks.  Just thought I'd share them below.  Do you recognize any of them?

Read below to see what I ended up using these for...

Images (from top center, clockwise):  Temple deity, kinari (kinalee), temple deity, temple lion (seeng), emblem of Lao Ministry of Education, naga (nak), temple bird (hong), temple deity (center image).

This is just a random story to share regarding how I ended up using these drawings.  Many years ago I used to tutor a small group of 6 Lao kids which I did for free.  Actually, initially it was suppose to be just one child.  Her parents approached me and asked me to tutor her because she was struggling in school and they knew I had taught in Laos before.  Incidentally, she had cousins who wanted to also participate - how could I say no?  I didn't.

In any case, one day in an effort to amuse them and to do a bit of story telling I ended up using these images by sticking them on to pencils and using them as puppets.  My backdrop for the characters were some Lao pictures and postcards I obtained from trip to Laos.  The story of course was that of some made up fairy tale which I did on the fly and off the top of my head.  The kids were enraptured.  The things we do for the kids! 

At least that's what I say, but in truth I enjoyed making the little characters for my own enjoyment. 

I got the images from Lao line art drawing books.  I photocopied and printed them, colored them in and then finally laminated them. However one of the images, the one on lower left, is actually the emblem or symbol used by the Lao Ministry of Education which I found on one of my very old Lao language books.  I always thought it looked nice - perhaps like a big crown or something.

In the end, it was all worth it.  The kids were amused and learned new words and characters during story time.

- Submitted by:  VM