Arts >> Books >> Nonfiction

How to Write Your Own Picture Story on Buffalo Hide

American Indians, and many other cultures, often told stories using pictures. These picture stories, often called pictographs, consisted of crude drawings relating stories or events and were used as a means of recording history. Pictographs were typically written on tepees, walls and animal skins, such as buffalo hide. Pictographs can be fascinating to study and fun to make yourself. You can use traditional American Indian symbols or even make up your own images to tell picture stories for fun or even profit.

Things You'll Need

  • Buffalo hide (or simulated)
  • Black marker (or black paint)
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Decide on the story you want to tell. Make a brief outline of the story. Start with something simple, such as a story an American Indian might tell. An idea might be a young Sioux setting out on a journey to become a man. This is the basic story.

    • 2

      Lay out your buffalo hide with the fur side facing down. You can use a fake buffalo hide if you prefer. Draw your first picture in the center of the hide. For the young Sioux setting off on a journey to become a man, draw a tepee and a young Sioux boy. Don't worry about being artistically perfect. Even stick figures will do. The cruder the drawing, the more authentic it will look.

    • 3

      Draw your second picture slightly to the left of the center picture. This picture could be the young Sioux caught in a rainstorm, battling the elements of nature. Pictures in a pictograph go counterclockwise and form an ever-increasing spiral until you end the story.

    • 4

      Draw a third picture that depicts the young Sioux hunting, followed by another picture that depicts the Sioux cooking his kill over a fire. Another picture may depict the young Sioux a little older, praying to the sun.

    • 5

      Draw a last picture that depicts a fully grown Sioux warrior back where he started, perhaps now as the leader of the Sioux warriors. You can frame your buffalo hide drawing or simply hang it on your wall for decoration.

Nonfiction

Related Categories