Stretchy Snake

Trying to get some second graders who are struggling readers excited about using reading strategies..So we have Word Attack. Stretchy Snake is a strategy for sounding out words. Bringing in some of my kids' old karate belts, figure they can put them on for reading group, and earn reading pins for reaching milestones for the remainder of the year. I will put these characters on cards with the strategy on the back, and they can "play"them while they read to help "defeat" tricky words.

Sketched out in Manga Studio, then copied the image into Illustrator. Traced the sketch with pen tool and custom brush to "ink", colored with Live Paint for the flats, and used the knife tool to create areas to darken.