Drawing With Pro Comic Artists: Master Character Design, Cartooning Art Class

Do you want to raise happy, curious, and creative kids?

Do you want their imagination nurtured, their critical thinking sharpened, and their skills developed? We love Art, Literacy, and Big Ideas, and we inspire children to fall in love with these disciplines too.

We at Curious Together help students develop their skills and grow their creative and academic confidence so that they grow to pursue a life of curiosity, creativity, and passion. 



Our program is built on the 3 pillars of success: Developing Skills, Building Confidence, and Fostering Independence. Curious Together incorporates each of these pillars into our classes using tried and true methods that are scientifically proven to increase student engagement and promote rapid growth in students of all ability levels.

All of our teachers are highly credentialed with years of professional teaching experience and real-world experience with the subjects they love and teach, as well as a long track record of success in their discipline. 

We teach specific skills that students can master so that they know what success feels like early on. This instills confidence and lights the fire for greater curiosity. We encourage students in their current passions and introduce them to new ones. We help them pursue their own interests and talents. Our classes are a bridge between the student and a world of ideas, content, and improved skills.

🔦 ABOUT OUR TEACHERS 🔦

⭐ DANIEL GRISSOM, Founder of Curious Together: 
With fifteen years of experience teaching in schools around the world, Daniel knows what it takes to nurture a child's imagination, talents, and unique, creative voice. In 2021, he left the brick and mortar classroom to make more room for the things he loves most--art, family, and teaching children in ways unbounded by traditional schooling. And in 2022, he founded Curious Together and his online cartooning program Kids Cartoon Academy. He has a Master’s Degree in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University (NYC) and knows what it takes to cultivate a child’s imagination and develop their skills. He has taught over 2000 students in his online classes within the last two years. He uses scientifically proven methods to create a fun and engaging classroom that invites students to deep learning and transformative results. When he's not teaching, you'll find him drawing (of course), reading, watching sports, smoking barbecue, traveling, running his online art store, or being silly with his wife and two daughters.

📓 DERRICK HEISEY, Writer and Teacher: Since 2015, Derrick has taught every grade level from Kindergarten to 12th. He is a licensed Special Education teacher with a degree in English Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and a minor in Philosophy. He's published short stories and poetry, and produces a podcast where he reads his original fiction. According to him, mastering the written word is one of the most empowering journeys a person can pursue, and nothing brings him as much joy as sharing that passion with students. Everyone has something important to say; they just need to find the right words, and Derrick can’t wait to help his students discover their voices. When he isn’t teaching, you can find him in his garden inspecting tomatoes, scribbling in a notebook, or reading a book with his dachshund Charlie Marlow curled up on his lap.

🧙 KYLE BICE, ILLUSTRATOR AND PAINTER: Kyle Bice is an artist and educator with a decade of freelance art experience, including fantasy illustrations for Legendary Games, FortifyStr.com, and many private commissions of portraiture and fine art. His love for fantasy and sci-fi stories inspired him to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design for a BFA in Sequential Art (drawing comics and storyboards) where he discovered a love for traditional fine art, leading him to an MFA in Painting, also from SCAD. Kyle loves teaching because he gets to see students unlock their potential creativity as they learn that art is like any other skill in life- if they practice, anyone can make something great! Kyle’s teaching philosophy is centered around creating a space for students to feel respected and safe in, where they can explore their passions in a warm, accepting environment. In his off time you’ll find Kyle playing fantasy games like D&D and Magic the Gathering, letting his greyhound run at the park, and of course, painting.

📚 JOANNA GALLAGHER, Literacy Expert: Joanna Gallagher firmly believes that, with the right tools and foundational skills, essay writing doesn’t have to be scary–it can even be fun! With a bachelor’s degree in both English and History and a master’s degree in English Literary Studies, she has long been passionate about the importance of interdisciplinary study and the value of the humanities in the “real world” beyond the classroom. She has over 7 years experience providing writing support and instruction across a wide scope of ages, abilities, and environments–everything from working with college students in a Writing Center, to teaching 9th grade English in a traditional classroom, to tutoring homeschoolers in composition and grammar. She cares deeply about creating spaces and structures that encourage and empower students to grow in confidence as readers, clarity as communicators, and–most importantly–curiosity as thinkers and lifelong learners. Outside of teaching, she enjoys reading and writing for fun (yes, really),gardening, photography, traveling, and being outdoors as much as possible with her husband and two energetic toddlers.

🤔 CHRIS HURLEY, Philosopher Teacher: Chris is a teacher, daydreamer and philosopher (so are you!). He holds Bachelor degrees in Philosophy and History, as well as a Master's of Linguistics. He loves Philosophy because it nudges us to look up at the night sky or to ponder the social ramifications of AI or to view what we encounter in our lives from another’s eyes. In Chris’ classes, you are not students and teachers so much as detectives on a team hunting after clues. You will look at the ordinary and spectacular, as well as your own experiences and those of others. After twenty years of teaching, Chris still enjoys nothing more than exploring the world with my classes and he’s thrilled that you might join him on the journey. Personally, he’s a movie nut, a terrible tennis player, and will devour pizza of any kind (even anchovies!). He looks forward to meeting each of you, to hearing your thoughts and ideas, and helping you understand that by not knowing, we give ourselves the greatest gift of all, that of discovery.

💥 KEVIN CATALAN, PROFESSIONAL COMIC BOOK ARTIST: Kevin Anthony Catalan is a freelance Comic Cartoonist with two published comic books, Space Knights and Tales of Space Knights, and is featured as a cover artist and guest artist for various other comics.  Kevin was taught how to draw at a very young age by his father, an animator that worked at Disney and Warner Brothers, and was introduced to comics at age 9, instantly falling in love with the medium. Kevin graduated with a B.A. from San Francisco State University, majoring in Studio Arts with a focus on oil painting, and took various comic book classes. While in the University, Kevin tutored his fellow classmates in various subjects including Astronomy, Painting, and Comics Making. Kevin self published his epic action-packed comic book “Space Knights” a month after his college graduation in 2020, which has now been picked up by an independent Publisher. With all of this success as a comic book artist, teaching has been the most gratifying thing that has come out of his art career. Teaching is about growth on both sides. Kevin’s approach is to start a dialogue with his students, being able to ask questions and let them form their own way of tackling problems. There are no solid rules to art making, but they are lots of guides. So Kevin will help his students find their own individuality by showing them his methods but encouraging them to find their own unique interests and style. Outside of drawing comics, Kevin loves to play video games, watch movies, use his telescope to stargaze and exercise. 


🗯️ MIKE JASORKA, PROFESSIONAL CARTOONIST AND COMIC ARTIST: Mike Jasorka grew up in a small rural town in New Jersey and graduated in 2007 from Rowan University with a studio art degree in illustration before making a move to his dream city of Los Angeles. There, he spent his time juggling his joy for self-publishing and creating his own comic books, providing storyboards for the advertising/film/music industry and teaching sequential art (comics) at Venice Arts - a non-profit multi-media arts organization. At Venice Arts, Mike has taught over 500 youth how to write and draw comics by applying the methods and foundations he uses in creating his own comics as well as the opportunities he has had professionally. Mike's teaching philosophy revolves around approaching creativity with a patience to grow - as every project brings new growth through challenge and requires great patience in order to passionately complete them. Most of Mike's time today is spent creating his next comic works, hanging out with his fiancée and friends, writing songs on the guitar and playing drums when he can.