From Disney to Dr. Seuss, cartoonists have nurtured and developed their whimsical doodles to become established characters. Free-form doodling experiments and fun step-by-step methods will put students on their way to creating their own cartoons.  This summer art camp or weekly class is perfect for kids who love manga, comics, anime or cartoons. 

My goal is to create a fun, creative learning environment where students can comfortably learn and share their ideas with others who also love cartoons, comics, anime, and manga. Students will bring their imagination to life, invent unique characters and stories, and have the opportunity to share their art with other students. This class is great place for aspiring illustrators, authors, comic artists, and game developers to create characters, illustrate their backstory, and develop a style.

Each class will begin with an introduction to a new drawing style, technique, or character development strategy. Students will have the opportunity to share their work with other students live during the lesson with feedback and discussion, and/or share an image of their finished work in the classroom forum.

Day One - Using Shapes to Create
Analyze characters' body and head shapes from our favorite comics and shows. Students design 2 to 5 characters, each with different body shapes. Introduce random story generator to help students invent personalities and backstories for their characters.

Day Two - One Panel Character Studies
Students design at least one character (or reuse from previous day) and draw and color that character in the context of their story, with a background. Introduce sketching, inking and coloring process with basic perspective techniques.

Day Three - East vs. West
Compare and contrast styles and proportions for American-style characters with Japanese manga-style.  Teacher will lead a directed draw exercise to draw a body in each style, then students may add their own creative flair to show the character's personality.

Day Four - Caricatures
Students must begin class with a photo of themselves or someone else to base their caricature on. Discuss caricatures and exaggeration. Review context clues. Students will create at least one caricature that shows at least one important personality feature of character, including a background.

Day Five - The Funnies
We will analyze the funnies in newspapers and look for ways that shock, contrast, and the non sequitur generate laughs. Students will create at least one funny one-panel comic.


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ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL):
Class is appropriate for (CEFR: A2, B1, B2, C1, C2)
Please message me to let me know if your learner is A2 or B1.