Do you have a creative student with a story to tell?
When I was a small child, I entered the Reading Rainbow kids writing competition. I still have that original manuscript. It was an ambitious world, full of devastation, dragons, lore, and worldbuilding. It was pretty crazy, looking back at it. Also it was about cute sparrows coming home after a war had destroyed the land. I guess I’ve always had a thing for bird stories. And overdramatic writing.
Like, Seriously! Why are there dragons in a book about sparrows?
Got to love the screaming woman in the background.
I’m bringing this up to point out that everyone starts somewhere. My first manuscript was just lined paper with pencil drawings. The typed-out version had huge words and was printed on yellow paper. I didn’t know how to plot, how to pace, or how to lay out illustrations. It was a very basic story, and I barely remember it.
But it’s my history. It was my beginning. And the habits that I built up even back then continue on with me now.
Everyone starts somewhere, and I doubt my mom, when she saw me working so hard on the line paper and typing away on Grandma’s old computer, could have known what this would become. Art and Illustration are my life. I want to tell stories to as many people as will listen. And the journey I’ve taken has brought me to this place, where I can look back on my own work and see how it has changed over time.
But what I wish I had known at the time is how to do things. I worked so hard and did so many things wrong. I wasted a lot of time and a bit of money. And I felt so lost. How do I break into publishing? How do I tell my story right? How do I draw human faces? Hey, how do I even draw a Bicycle? Those things are crazy!
I can’t help you with the bicycle, but as a teacher I can give you the keys that I learned over time in a simpler and condensed way. I want my students to have the skills and tools they can use in their own work and interests. Thanks to partnering with Excelsior Classes, I’ll be able to help the next generation of artists and storytellers learn to write and draw with beauty and skill.
This will be a two semester series of courses, set for Junior High or High School students. In the Fall we have Illustration and Storytelling, an art course that helps you think like an illustrator. Interested in telling stories through art? We’ll be focusing on that, and learning ways these stories can be used in different mediums, formats, and situations.
Illustration and Visual Storytelling – Excelsior Classes
In the Spring is our Picture Book Intensive. We’ll spend the semester creating a picture book, from the words to the layout to the characters and style. It will be really intense, but also really fun, as we’ll end up with some really cool artwork and the information on how publishing works!
Illustrate a Children’s Book – Excelsior Classes
So if you have a student who is interested in art and writing, but don’t know where to start, maybe point them here. Our stories are gifts, and I want to help them grow!
