Last cartooning class at ACAD

I taught the final summer session of my cartooning class at ACAD last night. I am sad it is over, I looked forward to it every Wednesday night. I am very proud of the accomplishments of my student's. Their final pieces were a cut above my expectations!

We started out the final class with some super Brownies I baked up, filled with chopped up reese peanut butter cups and topped with Oreo minis. Then we got onto the warm up drawings. These warm up exercises are one of the best tools I offered them, we did different ones every class, so there is no way you can run out of ideas or get stumped as to what to draw.

 For this class, each person paired with someone in the class they have not worked with. I had them switch sketchbooks and draw a cartoon caricature of the other person based on a short conversation to find out their likes, dislikes and hobbies. Kinda like those mall caricature guys but even more cartoony and less like political satire artwork.

Before they returned the person's sketchbook I had them make a squiggle on the page. Then it was up to the person to turn it into a drawing. I did a few really quick ones on the white board while they worked.A bird in a tree, an old man in the wind with flies, bugs and leaves blowing toward him and getting stuck to his glasses like a windshield, a teddy bear, a dog and this guy:

We watched an episode of Schoolhouse rocks, followed by a silly adult version of Art Attack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=727zX-wh_J0. Then I showed them an inspirational address by Neil Gaiman before the break before the final crit. See below, it's fantastic!

The students lined up their work facing away from us for critique each gave a little explanation of what their intention was before turning around their work and revealing it to the class. The worked turned out great, and the critique went on for a half hour more than expected. There is some real talent in my group and I look forward to seeing how they progress on their projects in the years to come.

A giraffe in high heels.

For those interested in making their cartoons and drawings move I put a little information about my upcoming Animation Fundamentals course this fall at Quickdraw. Call KT at 403-261-5767 to sign up, space is limited.