In this club, students and I will choose scenes from their favorite anime animations and figure out how to recreate specific elements and effects from it. We'll be starting with the elements in Avatar the Last Airbender and learn how the artists created the bending of natural elements. 

⇢ Week of 4/7/24: Animating "Earthbending" (moving rocks, meteors, and avalanches)

⇢ Week of 4/14/24: Animating "Waterbending" (flowing and dripping water)

⇢ Week of 4/21/24: Animating "Firebending" (fire moving, growing, and sparking)

⇢ Week of 4/28/24: Animating "Airbending" (tornadoes, dust, and clouds)

After this, students will be able to request topics to learn and scenes to break down.

The goal will be to work on digital problem solving skills so that students can animate anything they imagine. We'll cover topics like elemental effects, roughing out a battle scene, character transformations, and more!

My format for this group will be highly conversational and will give ample time for students to work through trial and error. We'll start by choosing and breaking down an animated scene and discussing theories of how we think the artists created it. Then I'll walk through the animation techniques that apply, giving students a jumping off point for them to try their own methods. During this time, I will be working with students to problem solve ways to achieve their artistic vision. Last, we will all show what we've come up with and hold a constructive art critique of things we'd still like to work on in future sessions.

I've been an artist my entire life and have worked professionally in the animation industry for many years, so I am acutely aware of the struggles young artists go through on their journey to finding their unique, artistic voice. I teach with this understanding of how young creative minds think and work and have catered my class flow accordingly.

When I teach, I don't show your children how to tell stories just like ME, but instead I'm gently guiding them to discover their own style and creative voice as individual artists. I also prioritize community building so that my students can grow together and learn from their peers while making lasting relationships and opportunities to share and collaborate on projects.

All of these core values are taught using my "Star Student" characters I created to help inspire my students to grow in all areas of their lives as artists. Each character represents an art/life skill or education standard, and students are encouraged to collect as many as they can throughout each course. Some stars, like the "Co-Star", is awarded to the students who co-teach a drawing demonstration to the class, while the "Rockstar" is awarded to students who go above and beyond with their assignments.

I can't wait to meet you in my stellar classroom soon!