Mark your calendars for the next Animazement Convention

 While I managed to attend Animazement only on Saturday afternoon, I found the experience quite fun and inspiring. From the "How to Wear Hakama" panel and multiple anime viewing rooms to the multitude of creative costumed characters walking around the Raleigh Convention Center, I can't think of a more effective way to immerse yourself in the richness of Japanese pop culture often depicted in manga and anime. For fun, I sketched several cosplaying attendees as they walked by since you seldom get the opportunity to draw manga characters from life. Animazement is held on Memorial Day weekend, so it might be a good idea to mark your calendars for next year's convention.

Met the Cameron Village Regional Library Anime Club - Upcoming Classes at the Cary Arts Center

Thank you Nicole for introducing me to the members of the Library Anime Club. It was very nice meeting you all. Now I will have to look up "Black Butler" and the other funny anime that you highly recommended (was it something sounding like "Orion"?). Hope everybody was inspired to continue to work regularly with your sketchbooks after our short drawing demo session. The links listed on the column to the right include several art materials tips, drawing and paper craft templates, and my list of recommended reference and drawing technique books. That should keep you busy until our first official "Manga Sketching Workshop" sometime in the Spring.

Cary residents might want to keep an eye out for my upcoming "Cartoon Sketching - Manga Style" 3-lesson series in the Winter catalog of the Cary Arts Center. Starting on February from 4:30 pm-5:30 pm and 6:00 pm -7:00 pm every Monday after school, we will cover tentatively:

1. Fantasy Creatures.
2. Superheroes.
3. Dragons and monster design.
4. Ninja sketching school.

We also got a 2-hour Manga Sketching Workshop for Teens planned for the last Saturday of January 2012.

Another Manga Cartoon Sketching Demo at the Jo-Ann Store and First Trend Class announcement

Thanks for stopping by. Just spent the last few hours at the Jo-Ann store conducting a sketching demo as a preview of my Manga Cartoon Sketching trend class. The first 2-hour trend class is now scheduled for Saturday, May 26th from 10:00 am to noon. You will need something to draw with and some paper (Ideally the Sakura Pigma Sensei drawing set and a sketchbook with 50 lb/74 gsm paper). For other art materials suggestions you could check the previous post. If you would like to check out some Manga or Anime titles at your local library or bookstore before attending the class, I would recommend the works of Hayao Miyazaki ("Ponyo", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Howl's Moving Castle", "Spirited Away", "Princess Mononoke", "Nausica Valley of the Wind", and "Castle in the Sky" - you might want to check the movie ratings and reviews in Amazon to find the best fit for your child's age and level of interest) and Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astroboy).
Several kids took home a few mini comics to color at home and a few custom manga trading cards as souvenirs of this demo along with their speed sketches (which I define as a quick drawing done in 2-3 minutes). A few had to be particularly rushed, for their parties were waiting the next movie showing (the Regal Hollywood 20 movie theater is just around the corner from the store).
Sketched probably dozens of cartoon portraits during this demo. Lots of ninjas, few dragons, a couple of knights, several mermaids, bunch of butterfly/angel fairies, girl riding a brachiosaurus, and a toddler driving a mini car. The example above was the only instance where 2 sitters fitted in a single 8.5" X 11" sheet of card stock, and that was only because one agreed to play "Sebastian" for the mermaid model. We plan to hold future trend classes during weekdays, Saturdays 10:00 am-12:00 pm, and Sundays 1 pm-4:00pm.