By: Frank Rodgers
I’ve presented hundreds of talks on my work as a children’s author and illustrator over the years to both children and adults at schools and libraries and book festivals. An important feature of those talks was drawing at a flip chart to show the audience how I created my various book characters. This was extremely popular…I discovered that people just love to watch artists draw! The audiences were also fascinated to find out how my characters evolved and I found out that it inspired them to have a go themselves…to discover or even rediscover their own artistic talent. Thinking back on these experiences I thought it might be really worthwhile to present a whole series of illustration classes on YouTube so that anyone could access them – children or adults. I recalled the pleasure it gave me when I started to find ways and techniques of visualising my artistic ideas and I wanted to pass that pleasure on.
Thinking back on these experiences I thought it might be really worthwhile to present a whole series of illustration classes on YouTube so that anyone could access them – children or adults. I recalled the pleasure it gave me when I started to find ways and techniques of visualising my artistic ideas and I wanted to pass that pleasure on.
So…the idea for Cartoon Art School was born! An extensive series which would cover all aspects of cartoon style illustration – the style you see everywhere, in tv adverts, movies, magazines, comics and, of course, in children’s books.
The first six episodes are sequential and cover the basics of creating characters – how to draw faces, expressions and figures. After that the ‘classes’ come in groups where I’ll be demonstrating how to create characters from various fiction genres such as fantasy, action, adventure and scifi/space etc. There will also be a whole bunch of classes devoted to animal characters!
Mixed in with this will be classes on drawing, colouring and illustration techniques, cartoon strips and cartoon effects, backgrounds, layouts and even ideas on story-building. Whew! There’s a lot coming – with new tutorials every week – and I’m so looking forward to producing it!
My YouTube channel will also act as a springboard – directing viewers to the selection of my books which, thanks to INscribe, are now available across the major digital platforms!
So, whether you want to simply impress your friends with your drawing skills or bring out your latent creative talent… or whether you harbour a secret ambition to be a published illustrator – my YouTube channel Cartoon Art School is for you!
Frank Rodgers is a well-respected UK children’s author and illustrator of over twenty-five years experience. He has written and illustrated over seventy books of his own and illustrated more than thirty by other authors. His books have been published by Penguin, Hodder, Bloomsbury, Scholastic and others and cover the whole primary school age-range - children from three to eleven years old. Magic spells, pirates, witches, robots, aliens, flying dogs, swashbuckling penguins… they’re all here… plus a dynamic granny and a vegetarian vampire!