Friday March 25, 2011 I had another great session of cartooning at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa CA for their very rainy Spring Break week. I taught two classes:Mutants, Mermaids and Monsters and Drawing Superheroes and Sidekicks. Both of the classes were really fun, even with the heavy rain outside.
The morning class was all about drawing creatures and mixing up animals to make your own. The kids were really into it, but I have little to show for it by way of my own sketches and drawings. Except for these…
above: mash-up animals
above: lizard+human with a bad topee
After I got a quick lunch break the next class began and was on drawing Superheroes and Sidekicks. The class was a smaller group so there was more time for one-on-one instruction. I gave the young kids (ages 8-12) some tough challenges to do, but they all did a great job of following along.
We started off creating a description of a superhero (gender, age, powers, weaknesses, etc) and then I had the class follow along as we created the character with the their input. This character was: male, middle-aged, mental powers and flight with a meekness of a fear of snakes. Part of the process was having one of the student pose for reference. Next we created his young sidekick too.
above: Father and son superheros
One of the best parts for me of this afternoon class was that I got to sit down and do some one-on-one drawing demonstrations while everyone was focused on their work. For example one challenge I gave them was to create a Superhero and Sidekick with a set superpower: Super Gift Wrapping. I got to sit down with the kids and did this drawing…
click above for a bigger image at Flickr.com
Over snack time I got out my favorite inking pen out (Zebra brand) and did the drawing below with input from a few students…
click above for a bigger image at Flickr.com
When class resumed I had the students create a character with the motifs of Spiders and Pirates. Here is my drawing…
click above for a bigger image at Flickr.com
And then towards the end when things were winding down I did this drawing mash-up hero and sidekick, borrowing from some favorite characters of mine. Any guesses which ones?
click above for a bigger image at Flickr.com
All in all a very nice session made better by some very enthusiastic students. See some of them below…
BTW: I will be teaching a summer week long session at the museum as well, so if you are a kid or parent in the area and are interested why not sign up…
Cartooning for Kids
MONDAY–FRIDAY ? JULY 11–15 ? 9am–12:30pm
Have a fun-filled week designing and drawing your own characters—from superheroes to cute critters—and developing stories and comic strips. Join cartoonist Brian Kolm to learn the basics of cartooning and create your own mini-comic book.
