True Voice English
Conversation Cards
Designed for Creative Conversations
Spaces & Traces
Language Conversation Cards for Artists & Designers
Your studio. Your stuff. Your view.
We’re collecting artist-submitted images for a new deck of 52 printed conversation cards — designed to help creative, second-language English users have rich, real conversations.
These cards will be a signature part of our Sketchbook English course.
Each card will feature:
A visually striking artist image
A vocabulary word or phrase
A vocabulary word or phrase
What We’re Looking For
We’re curating moments and details that show the real work behind creativity. That might include:
Close-ups from your studio/workplace — hands, tools, machines, sketches, edits
Snapshots of inspiration — from nature, objects, textures, the street
Finished works — in detail or from afar
Unfinished pieces — raw, in-process, layered
Visuals of demos, interventions, conversations, actions
Colour patterns, material textures, traces of process
Odd objects, strange combinations
Anything visually interesting that tells a story
Current Call for Images
(Aug 25 – Sept 30, 2025)
The invitation: Each week, share the first photo from your camera roll that matches our word prompt, and you could win a 50% course voucher (valid until Jan 2028).
Why Not Use Stock Images to Teach English?
Language learning has to feel real. That’s why you’ll never find stock photos in our courses.
Stock images flatten experience — they’re generic, polished, and disconnected from life. They don’t spark real conversations, because there’s nothing personal to respond to.
Instead, we use authentic images — contributed by artists, designers, and makers — to make language learning alive, specific, and believable. These are the photos that unlock genuine conversations, the kind of English that finally lets you show up as an artist.
Why Conversation Cards?
This deck is designed to support the conversation between a 2nd language English user and an UK artist/designer in their studio, which is a key real-world English component of the Sketchbook English course.
It’s a visual tool to support conversation, build vocabulary, and help people talk about art, place, process and materials.
Your Ordinary is Extraordinary
You don’t need a finished masterpiece.
In fact, we love the in-between moments:
A dirty fingerprint on a fine line
A failed darkroom print
Shopping for paint brushes
The marks left behind after masking tape is pulled off
These are the traces of your creative life.
This is what we want to use to bridge from one maker’s studio into another’s, and form connections, a common experience we don’t need to explain to speak form.
Who Can Submit?
Anyone can submit to the photo dump. We also need studio/art-related images form:
Artists, designers, makers, photographers, students
Based anywhere in the world
Working in any medium
Your image must be your own (you created or photographed it), and:
You must have rights to share and reproduce the artwork
If the image includes a recognisable face, you must have their written permission
Black & white or colour — both are welcome.
Landscape or Portrait— both are welcome (we reserve the right to crop).
If selected, we’ll ask for a high-resolution file for print.
Future Plans
We are considering making the packs available for sale outside the course, as an ELT resource for art schools. portfolio candidates and general English conversation practice. (Used well, they could enrich any English language class or coaching context).
They can even enable international collaborations…
What You’ll Get
If your image is selected:
Your name, city, and handle/website on the card
A permanent place in the printed deck (expected Summer 2026)
This is a curated exhibition you can include in your CV.
A 50% discount on our Sketchbook English course (valid until Jan 2028)
Non transferable, no resale value.
Feature eligibility in our quarterly Featured 4 showcase across our website and social channels
A lifelong impact on the global community of artists and English learners
How to Enter
- Every Monday, we post a competition word of the week on Instagram (@truevoiceenglish).
- Share your image by commenting on the post (preferred) or sending us a DM.
- By the weekend, we’ll announce our favourite and post it on our feed/stories.
- We will select 1 winner, and may choose 0, 1, or several entries — for inclusion in the deck.
We’ll contact you directly if yours is selected.
Got Questions?
Email us at truevoiceenglish@gigsandjams.co.uk
or follow @truevoiceenglish on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn for updates
