Students or others looking to make an illustrated plot line will want to look through catalogs and magazines for images they can use that illustrate the main setting in something they've seen or read. Setting involves not only where the book or movie takes place, but when events occur. By cutting out images similar to a scene in the book or movie and pasting them onto a poster board, students can give their peers a better idea of the plot without their having to see or read it themselves.
Some books or movies have a large cast of characters, the ones with more important roles being the main characters. Students can look through fashion magazines or even use movie fliers to illustrate the main characters. This can be taken a step further by illustrating the relationships those characters have with one another either by using arrows and hearts or writing short paragraphs about who is in love with whom.
Conflict is what drives a storyline, and there are times when different forms of conflict can overlap. These conflicts include man against man, man against himself, man against society and man against nature. To illustrate conflict, students can either draw images or use printouts along with magazine images. For example, if one of the main conflicts is man against nature, having an image of a man facing a picture of either a forest or forest fire would work. If the conflict involves man against man, using an image of two opponents fighting each other would capture the action.
The resolution is how the story concludes; it reveals who gets the prince and ties up any loose ends. If a story involves a love triangle where two girls are going for the same guy, the images or drawings used for the resolution should show not only who got the guy in the end, but also if the two friends are still friends. If they went their separate ways, illustrating the winner with the guy on one side and the other girl alone on the other can work.