Drawing Cartoon Animals Summer Camp (M-F)

The students will learn the steps to take to develop, design and draw cartoon animal portraits. From using guidelines and shapes to calculate proportions to shading and coloring to complete the characters. Students will become comfortable planning out a drawing and using the techniques taught in class to draw any type of cartoon animal. These are the same techniques I use when I illustrate children’s books or teach one-day drawing courses. We will begin with identifying the favorite animal to develop into a cartoon (puppy, kitten, horse, mythical animal, or llama OR??) and then plan out the basic outlines and guidelines. Students will engage with me so I can observe their work and I will provide feedback. The most important aspect of any type of art, is that the student has fun and becomes motivated to produce more art. Art is important to the development of young minds and is great at allowing the students to grow their creativity. I have seen students become more confident in other subjects because of the confidence they develop through art.

All Classes will emphasize: Use of guidelines, shapes, and proportions will be emphasized to produce a stylized animal cartoon.

Class 1: Identify Model, students will be engaged to recognize shapes that make up the animal’s form. Importance of guidelines (ghost lines) and why we lightly trace the shapes before we move into darker outlining and shading will be discussed. Shading techniques and directional strokes to produce fur structure and volume will be utilized. A simple animal model will be the focus of this class, i.e., something round, cute, and pudgy!

Class 2: Building upon previous class techniques, we will move on to a more complex cartoon character. However, depending upon the speed of the students and questions, a second model may be identified and begun. This drawing will require students to demonstrate concepts from first class. Coloring and character details - eye shapes and sizes, nose, sitting or standing positions will be explored in more detail.

Class 3: This class will allow students to finish work begun in class 2 or select a new model to draw, utilize basic skills developed in first two classes to create a more detailed animal portrait or a scene with their cartoon animal. Progression should be observed in the students sketches from first model in class one to the third day.

Class 4: This class will provide the opportunity for students to draw a cartoon of their own pet if desired or continue to follow along with the pre-selected character (baby Wolves or Tigers which can also provide insight into drawing cartoons of dogs or cats). I will watch how the children visualize, plan, and implement the techniques identified and practiced in the first three classes to draw a new more complex cartoon character. This class will continue to emphasize the basics that can be used on any drawing/sketching project no matter the level of difficulty (even the same techniques used for realistic sketching!).

Class 5: Continuation of Class 4 and completion of cartoon characters and/or scenes with feedback or input from instructor. A quick portion of this class, if time permits, will include how to draw more life-like yet stylized versions of animals (think 3D models in movies).