drawing lessons available fall 2024!

Does your kid love to draw? I can tailor lessons to anyone’s strengths! I have a BFA, 11 years of freelance experience, and taught art for kids and adults at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media for the past 3 years. See résumé here.

• $600/unit or $150/session
• No materials necessary!
• Lessons taught at Squirrel Hill Library
• Contact me via email!

UNIT 1 - BASICS, CHARACTERS AND STORYTELLING

This is the perfect class to get a young mind working! I keep it fun and interesting by focusing on characters and stories, while making sure we cover the basics and fundamentals.

These lessons will help your child stylize forms, learn from the figure and consider environments.

LESSON 3: CHARACTER DESIGN - HUMANS

  1. Human Stylization

  2. Great Examples of Stylization

  3. Conveying Personality

  4. Stylized Human Drawing Session

    Home Exercise: Human Character

LESSON 1: BASICS AND PERSPECTIVE

  1. Intro / Learn strengths and weaknesses

  2. Basics of shape

  3. Basics of Perspective

    Home Exercise: Perspective Drawing of Living Room

LESSON 4: CHARACTER DESIGN - ANIMALS

  1. Animal Form Basics

  2. Examples of Stylization

  3. Conveying Personality

  4. Dynamic Duos

    Home Exercise: Animal Character

LESSON 2: FORMS AND FIGURES

  1. 60 second gestures

  2. Facial Planes

  3. Dynamism, Weight

  4. Character Design: Forms

    Home Exercise: Draw self in mirror

DRAWING LESSONS 2

ENvironments, comics AND HANDLETTERING

Get ready to dive in deeper with this tightening of stylistic skills! Your child will seek his or her own expressive “voice” through environmental design, perspective, sequential storytelling and handlettering.

We will be drafting letters and words with precision as well as going more freeform.

LESSON 3: HANDLETTERING 1

  1. Handstyles through the Ages

  2. Poster Design

  3. Measuring Techniques

  4. Poster Design Session

    Home Exercise: One-Page Comic

LESSON 4: HANDLETTERING 2

  1. Sanborn Map Breakdown

  2. Sanborn Map Exercise

  3. Name Exercise

    Home Exercise: Compose Environment with Figure

LESSON 4: ENVIRONMENTS

  1. Examples of great environments

  2. Environments in perspective

  3. Placing Characters in Environments

  4. Compose Environment

    Home Exercise: Compose Environment with Figure

LESSON 5: COMICS

  1. Composition

  2. Storyboarding

  3. Telling Stories Visually

  4. Layout of Comics

    Home Exercise: One-Page Comic

UNIT 3 - MAPMAKING, DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION & ALBUM ART

Now for some real challenges! Your child will engage with mapmaking, Procreate/iPad, digital illustration, client prompts and immersion techniques for brainstorming.

LESSON 3: MORE DIGITAL

  1. File Types / Imports and Exports

  2. Brush Sets

  3. Transparencies

  4. Client Prompt Exercise 2

    Home Exercise: Variable

LESSON 4: ALBUM ART

  1. Client-Based Input

  2. Visual Response to Audio

  3. Brainstorming

  4. Album Art Session

    No Home Exercise!

LESSON 1: MAPMAKING

  1. Technological Resources

  2. Mapping Out a Neighborhood

  3. Getting Started

  4. Mapmaking Exercise

    Home Exercise: Finish Map

LESSON 2: GO DIGITAL

  1. Basics of the iPad / Pencil

  2. Procreate

  3. Utilizing Layers / Color Fills

  4. Client Prompt Exercise 1

    Home Exercise: Variable

GROUP LESSONS AT Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media

I teach art lessons at Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media! Classes offered:

• Illustration for adults (evenings)
• A 5-day Procreate-focused digital illustration summer camp for kids

Check PCAM’s website for class and art camp availability!

WARRIORS OF THE LAKOTA ART CAMP

I helped coordinate and teach a summer art camp for three years at Little Wound School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota in conjunction with Warriors of the Lakota, Unity Presbyterian Church and the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community.

WASH ARTS

For two years I taught summer art classes for ages 9-12 at Wash Arts in Washington, PA. We covered illustration basics, character design, album art and poster design.