Illustrate Dynamic Picture Book Characters with Personality--FLEX (High School)

--OVERVIEW—

Please click on the course thumbnail above for a video explaining the course!

This course section is for ages 14-18. It is also offered for ages 11-14.

Get ready to draw! Learn how to illustrate expressive, dynamic picture-book characters. Because picture books rely on images to carry the weight of the story—and do so in a very limited number of pages—studying character development in this medium will teach you how to craft characters with maximum expression in a brief amount of time. If you are interested in animation or graphic-novel illustration, this is an excellent starting place.

We will look at picture books as an art form, and how to design characters whose emotions and movements jump off the page and tell a compelling story. You will have ample opportunity to practice your illustration, storytelling, and art analysis skills in fun, interactive ways, and to get feedback on your work!

We will look at many examples of expressive, beautiful illustrations from some of the best picture books and will explore a variety of styles and story types.

Each week there are several drawing activities for you to do on your own that will reinforce the lesson and help you develop your illustration skills.  You will be challenged to think creatively and really stretch the way you perceive art, story, and how to convey emotion and movement. Art is posted for feedback either publicly or privately in the Outschool classroom.

Each weekly assignment will receive thorough feedback from me, usually via a video recording in which you can see and hear me reflect on your work! I *love* communicating with my students, and this is one of the best aspects of the class.

While this is definitely a class about practicing illustration, it is not a course that is going to provide much direction on specific art techniques, nor will it address how to use various mediums. Students will be introduced to a Discovery Sketch technique they can employ throughout the class. Otherwise, this class focuses on thinking about how to convey a character’s thoughts, feelings, and actions over the course of a story. You can accomplish all of the class lessons with pencil and paper; however, if you have a preferred medium you wish to work with, you are welcome to do so.

This is also a course that will be fun and educational regardless of your art experience because the concepts apply to both seasoned artists and those just learning to draw. If you are uncomfortable sharing your work in a group you may certainly share it privately with me.

Throughout the course, we will address numerous illustrative concepts, including:
-	Line
-	Shape
-	Color
-	Proportion
-	Balance on the Page
-	Light and Contrast
-	The connection between story and picture
-	Style
-	Matching the style and character to the story
-	How to use a Discovery Sketch technique to explore character illustration

--FLEXIBLE & INTERACTIVE—

This is a FLEX course. There are no live meetings. Every week, I will post a new, engaging, example-filled video lesson for you to watch that addresses a unique aspect of picture-book character illustration. You are then given engaging assignments to work on throughout the week that reinforce the lessons learned. Students post their work in the Outschool classroom for feedback from their peers and from me.

This flexible schedule format is ideal because you need ample time to brainstorm, think creatively and draw! You will also find the assignments require you to do some research. This way you are not rushed to get something on the page, and you can illustrate on your schedule without the pressure of a live classroom.

While we do not meet in person, this is still an interactive course! Each week’s video lesson comes with fun illustration assignments that will get your creative juices going and challenge you. When you submit your art for review (publicly or privately), I will give ample feedback on anything submitted.  You are free to share your work with me as much as you like during the course. This allows us to work through numerous drafts together, conversing about your challenges, and helping you produce pieces that feel as final as you want them to. Students are encouraged (although not required) to present their work via Outschool's video-record function so they can explain their work to the group and ask for specific feedback. All students are expected to provide peer review comments each week. There is also a fun final character-study project that allows you to put to paper everything you learned over the five weeks. 

Also, every week I will post illustration examples with discussion questions in the Outschool class forum dedicated to analyzing published illustrator’s work and to conversations about character development and how to bring characters to life visually. Students are encouraged to answer questions and analyze the works via the Outschool record-video function (although if you are not comfortable with this you may absolutely write your discussion comments), and I will definitely respond with my own thoughts and observations via video as well! 

**The video lessons in this course are available to students for 14 days after the last day of class, at which time they will be removed.**

----WEEKLY BREAKDOWN----
Each week follows the same schedule.

Every Sunday, I will post:
1.	A pre-recorded video lesson that comes with downloadable notes you can use to follow along
2.	Discussion questions based on the lesson that will have you analyzing artwork yourself and sharing art you love with your peers
3.	Illustration prompts that will reinforce concepts, challenge your creative thinking, and develop your personal illustrator style

You should plan to finish each video lesson by midweek so that you have plenty of time to draw and participate in the classroom discussion!

--WEEK ONE: FACIAL EXPRESSIONS—
We introduce the Discovery Sketch technique employed throughout this course and then discuss the importance of emotional range and how to establish this range, the complexities of bringing emotion to life through the face, and different artistic styles to try.

--WEEK TWO: THE BODY AND HOW IT MOVES—
We discuss how a character’s movements convey feeling, action, and interest; and how to create movement. This includes the use of line, shape, and balance in a picture. We will also look at how to use the character’s body to tell the reader about him/her, including aspects like attire, size and proportion.

--WEEK THREE: ANIMALS—
We focus on how to take the lessons from weeks one and two and apply them specifically to animals. We look at the unique challenges of drawing animals, how to use reference material for accuracy, and how to personify an animal.

--WEEK FOUR: INANIMATE OBJECTS
Week four takes lessons from weeks one through three and applies them to illustrating inanimate objects. Personifying inanimate objects requires significant creativity and command of illustration skills.

--WEEK FIVE: CHARACTER IN THE CONTEXT OF STORY —
We wrap up the course looking at characters in context of their surroundings and the story. This conversation includes analyzing light and dark, color, mood, style, how character and story connect, how to brainstorm a character, and how characters play off of one another.