At Yumenomori, "workshops" are held irregularly by inviting professionals in different fields. This caricature workshop was sponsored by An Kanie, a painter who has been visiting Yumenomori for many years. Everyone at Atelier ANZ, and Mrs. Murao, the editor of "The Seagull Bookshelf", also helped out.

Paints, crayons, markers, paper cups, sponges, scissors, glue, and two large sheets of drawing paper were lined up on the desks. I feel like I could draw a self-portrait somehow, but I don't think its that interesting to just draw it. An, who is a painter, gave us "two rules" for this event.

Speaking of painting, there is a common idea of drawing with pencils and paint. But painting with a sponge? Everyone was tilting their heads, but they were surprised to see the two colours that An chose mix beautifully. The children immediately took out their paint and put it on a paper plate and spread the colours. Mixing the two colours perfectly, accenting one colour, or spreading it while keeping the individuality of the two separate colours, no two pictures were alike. Furthermore, we were amazed at the power of creativity and ingenuity of the children, such as spinning the sponge to make new patterns without anyone teaching them, or spreading it by hand to seek further changes.

They were about to start drawing their self-portraits on the remaining piece of paper, but An made another rule: "Cut the shape of your nose out of paper, and put it in the middle." They captured the shape of their noses by using their iPads internal camera. Everyone put their favourite coloured origami paper to their face and tried to make their noses with the paper.

Compared to young children, the 9th grade students have a lot of experience drawing pictures, but with this rule, they rediscovered the joy of drawing. It was very exciting to paint a picture in such an unpredictable way.

After sticking their nose on the paper, they drew their faces with the art materials provided that they wanted to use. I was worried that they might not be accustomed to drawing faces starting from the nose, but the children did not rest their hands and steadily completed their self-protraits.

The finished self-portraits were completed by pasting their cut out faces onto the sponge artworks they made earlier. Even after combining the two, they stuck other things such as origami cranes on, and some drew some things with pencil. Wonderful self-protraits were created with double, or even triple the personality of the artist.

The secret of the "paper nose" that An revealed a little at the end. By making the nose out of paper, only the nose will be flat. It's hard to draw and add pictures to it, and it's going to be a burden. It seems that An aimed to have them experience some restrictions. Whether they knew it or not, the children seemed to enjoy drawing from the beginning to end. It is a picture that seems to be the embodiment of "freedom", but I felt that it is interesting that by intentionally setting restrictions, it creates ingenuity and fun that cannot normally occur, and further expands the range of expression. I would like to be able to see the works created by the children, and what kind of changes have occured in the children after this workshop.