Saturday, June 12, 2010

Another Jo-ann Open House for Kids Summer Art Camp completed and next demo announcement

For those of you that can not make my ARTScool classes this summer: I am adapting my Manga Cartooning 8-lesson plan used for the Miracle Plus after school program to a trend class at Jo-Ann's. Thus on the course of several 2-hour sessions we'll discuss the cultural context in which Japanese comics are created, popular themes and styles seen in Shonen (comics for boys) and Shojo (comics for girls) titles, and work on basic sketching skills with an eye for developing each kid's manga cartooning style. Sample activities include: robot sketching as an early approach for drawing the human figure, designing original Kaiju (strange beast) to foster imagination, designing sets of manga artist trading cards (ATC), writing and illustrating a 6-page mini comic with its front and back covers, creating simple pop-up cards and dioramas as a means for pre-visualizing a story setting, trying different art supplies for illustrating and coloring covers and promotional materials than tend to be done in color while the stories themselves are traditionally rendered in black and white given their usual tight production schedules.
For those interested in this Manga Cartooning trend class, you will just need some paper and drawing tools to get started. I would recommend a 9" X 12" Canson XL Recycled Sketchbook that with its generous count of thin and light weight 50 lb (74 gsm) paper works fairly well for tracing exercises and general sketching. Just remember to use a piece of card stock as a shitajiki (or pencil board) under your working sheet to protect the other sheets beneath it. The Sakura Pigma Sensei drawing set would be my top pick for a starter sketching kit since it includes 4 pigmented pens with different nib sizes, a nice 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, and a efficient soft eraser. There are many coloring tool options to consider: washable markers, colored pencil, watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, and watercolor pans. The 24-color Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Kit with its convenient waterbrush would make for a pretty versatile and convenient choice (select a sturdier paper support that can handle light washes like the 9" x 12" Canson XL Mixed Media pad or even some bristol paper). To sign up for the trend class or find out more come to my next demo on June 19th 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Jo-Ann Store Open House, Promenade At Naples Center, 6428 Hollywood Blvd, Naples, FL 34109-2013, phone (239) 594-0389.

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