Summer Classes at Art Central

This July, I’ll be traveling to Carthage, MO to teach a variety of art classes for kids at Art Central located at 1110 East 13th Street, Carthage, MO 64836-2407. I’ve included the various classes I’ll be teaching and the corresponding dates. For more information call Art Central at (417) 358-4404.

Monday, July 19^th

COMICS & MANGA

Students will explore the world of Japanese Manga comic figures, and will view and discuss various artists in this field. They then will create their own short comic story utilizing basic drawing techniques.

Tuesday, July 20^th

COMIC & CARTOON CHARACTER DESIGN

Create your own cartoon and comic characters and learn the fundamentals of drawing of the figure and facial expression from your imagination.

Thursday, July 22^nd

LOOK AT THAT OLD BOOK!

Bring an old book or use one we supply, recycle it into a brand new art project! Using collage, paint, your pictures or ours, remove pages, add others, creating a personal journal.

Friday, July 23^rd

FANTASTIC WORLDS

Study perspective drawing fundamentals and create your own strange and otherworldly landscapes, and then create fantastic creatures using watercolor or gouache to populate the drawing.

In The Works

A while back, I posted a preliminary sketch of a 19th century statue I came across in Charleston SC. I recently begun working on a painting on canvas based on this sketch as seen here. This is an example of my underpainting process and will soon be working color into the image.

As I stated in my earlier post, I'm fond of statues

with elegantly sculpted drapery where the form

underneath the figure is still somewhat visible. I found this particular statue to be a beautiful example of this.

This is one of the final peices I'll be working on for the upcoming June exhibit at ACO. I'll have more specifics on the upcoming show soon!

Summer Comic Class At ACO

Sharpen your pencils and get out those rulers. I'll be teaching a comic class for ages 10-18 at Art Center of the Ozarks on Fridays June 18, 25, July 2, 9 from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

This class is designed to give an overview of basic drawing and narrative art techniques. Students will learn to construct the figure, design their own characters, learn basic panel configurations and create an exciting narrative using their own characters.

To register for classes or for more information please call 479-751-5441 or visit artcenteroftheozarks.org.

Advanced Graphic Illustration Fall 2010

I'll be teaching an advanced illustration course this fall at NWACC. This is an interdisciplinary course, combining illustration, fine art and graphic design techniques. Students will build their commercial art portfolio by exploring various aspects of illustration. Projects will range from editorial illustration, narrative art, book publishing, fashion illustration, advertising, music industry illustration, film industry illustration, as well as the art of self promotion.

Fall classes at NWACC run from Aug 23 - Dec 23. Advanced Graphic Illustration will be from 3:00pm - 5:45 Mon/Wed. For more information please visit http://www.nwacc.edu/.

Special Thanks

to Terri Menefee of Artchurch Studio for the successful 1st Annual Comic Expo in beautiful in Hot Springs AR. It was truly a pleasure to be speaking along with Slave Labor Graphics illustrator extraordinaire Dusty Higgins, the amazing Marvel Comics illustrator Mitch Breitweiser, and fantastic Marvel colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser. Also, many thanks to comics historian, Robert O'Nale of Henderson State University for his highly informative Brief History of Comics seminar.

Comics in The Classroom: April 1st at Artchurch Studio 1st Annual Comic Expo in Historic Whittington Valley

Graphic novels are one of today's fastest growing categories in book publishing. The scope and diversity of graphic novels has broadened in recent years to include much more sophisticated subject matter, including nonfiction, biography, and compelling stories melded from on-the ground reporting and research from the world's latest war-torn regions.

Public schools are proving to be viable markets for graphic novels and with the advent of a more serious and ambitious body of nonfiction work, high school, middle schools, college and university librarians are bolstering their graphic novel collections. The latter half of the 20th century has experienced an alteration in the definition of literacy. The proliferation of the use of images as a communicant was propelled by the growth of a technology that required less in text-reading skills. From road signs to mechanical use instructions, imagery aided words, and at times even supplanted them. Visual literacy has entered the panoply of skills required for communication in this century. Graphic novels are at the center of this phenomenon.

Hot Springs’ first Comic-Con style event, Comics on the Wall, will be held at the Artchurch Studio, 301 Whittington Avenue, beginning Thursday, April 1st, with Educators reception and exhibit from 5-9 p.m., including educator packages with lesson plans, power point video, and curricula while supplies last. Trina Bright, Literacy Coach with Little Rock’s School District, will lead discussion on Comics in the Classroom, followed by Robert O’Nale, who will lead a seminar in Comics: Very Brief History of Comics.

Comic Expo April 1st -3rd

This week I'm posting a day early because I'll be speaking Friday evening, April 2nd between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm and teaching a creating comics workshop on Saturday April 3rd from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Comic Expo in Hot Springs, AR.

I'll be giving a Powerpoint presentation and discussing my past, current and future graphic novel projects as well as my approach to visual storytelling. I'll be a featured speaker along with Marvel Comic's, Captain America artist Mitch Breitweiser and Knights of the Living Dead artist Dusty Higgins.

Please visit http://artchurch.org/ for more information.