Classrooms which in the past may have been filled with a low-level discomfort or outright hostility between the people in the room immediately change with the student jobs. People all over the classroom form a team, working together towards a common goal. That is real reform in education.
There is nothing quite like seeing a professional friendship develop between two artists who may then be seen everywhere on campus together because they share the status of class artists. Their pride when they walk into class and take up their station behind the easel is visible each day between classes. I have noticed that many class artists arrive to class early in order to make sure that their workspace is neat and ready and set up for them.
It is worth finding an actual easel for the artists to use, and providing them with large butcher paper or chart paper so that they can produce large, attractive visual aids in the form of images and storyboards. Also provide the primary artist (who is in charge of all conceptual design) with bold markers that don’t bleed onto the page below it. Provide colored pencils or crayons for the secondary artist to use in filling in and shading the forms that the primary artist draws.
I like to place the artists close by so I can check in with them as needed. The artists’ easel must be turned away from the other students during class. This has the advantage of keeping the students’ focus on the story. Since I am next to the easel, I can check on the artists’ work from time to time, helping them with details, etc.