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Draw Your Own Animal Characters That Tell a Story

This ongoing class will explore and practise how to create a new, unique animal character each week.
Sandy Nichols
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(116)
Class
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What's included

1 live meeting
40 mins in-class hours per week
Homework
Suggestions to practise, refine or expand on a lesson are optional.
Assessment
Informal assessment at the end of each class; students will show their drawing for constructive feedback. The group will assess if the drawing communicates 1) action of the animal 2) emotion 3) specific animal, ie gorilla.

Class Experience

Unusual facts and features of the animals are discussed as we view slides. Students will learn about the animals' habitat and what they eat, and often include these in the drawings.

I encourage students to tell a joke about the animal or an interesting fact about them to share. We also draw what kind of food and environment the animal lives in.

We explore both the realistic animal then a character version of it, and often draw both (time permitting). We look at ways to create a unique animal character. 

No prior drawing experience needed, as this class will accommodate a range of skill level. Sometimes a worksheet (drawn by me) is provided. If you don't have access to a printer, I plan an alternative drawing exercise.

 This class is structured but informal with social time as we draw. 

The class routine (loosely) follows: 

Classroom Expectations and Introduction - 3-5 min
Discussion and Slides of weekly animal  - 5 min
Active drawing and social time for students - 10 min
Show work and discuss - 15 min
Add colour & make adjustments (optional).

Many of the topics listed are requests from students. 

By now we've covered many animals including insects (blue whale, woolly mammoth, crab, lobster, pigeon, ostrich, caribou, blue heron, shark, mice, rhinoceros, moth, bison, wolf, raccoon, lion, giraffe, rattle snake, eagle, iguana, koala bear, octopus, etc). 

Some of the popular ones (like cats) we've repeated as per student request.

Animals upcoming for November, December and January: Dogs, ants, sloth, sunfish and dragon fly. I am always open to suggestions.

We may not stop until every animal has been drawn in this class!
Learning Goals
Students will learn how to draw their own animal characters that may be used in their own future written story. Students will discover that it is incorrect thinking that all the “good ideas” for animal characters have already been taken. New ideas are as unique as the individual artist.  They will learn simple drawing techniques each week to help visually describe the animal character.

*To keep our online “studio” time together as professional as possible, please refrain from eating during our class. This is standard policy for any studio practice, and will ensure better outcomes for everyone. Thanks in advance.
learning goal

Other Details

Supply List
Supplies needed are: pencil, sharpener, eraser, loose blank paper or sketchbook. Sometimes a PDF file is provided for the animal theme for the week.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined July, 2022
4.9
116reviews
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
I was honoured to win a nation wide contest to illustrate Dennis Lee's reprint of Alligator Pie. I have illustrated five published children's books in total. I graduated from a Canadian Art College in Visual Communications, then worked as an illustrator for thirty years, doing mostly editorial and advertising commissions. I have done numerous, live drawing presentations for elementary age children at schools and libraries. Most recently, I taught Illustration and drawing fundamentals for seven years at a Canadian Art University.

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Live Group Class
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$13

weekly
1x per week
40 min

Completed by 40 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 6-10
1-9 learners per class

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