Watercolor Workshop Class at RISD-CE, 2017
Read moreBook Dummy Class is Complete
L to R: Joan, Laura, Amanda, Lisa, Hanna, Donna and Karen
Every time I teach The Book Dummy, I am amazed to find another group of creative, talented, and driven students ready to put their ideas into words and art, and create a prototype for a children's book. This year we had stories from a classic Thumbelina, re-written, through a non-fiction book about the moon, and it's importance to earth.
Each student took their story from written word (edited more times than you can imagine) through storyboarding, character development, one finished spread (sketch, color studies, finish), full size sketches, cover letter, client search, and all the way to constructing a finished dummy.
I was blessed to share this creation process with these talented women.
RISD Weekend Watercolor Intensive Workshop, June, 2015
Maria came with her mom. She worked on a street scene from Barcelona.
It's hard to think of something that's more fun than spending a weekend with motivated, talented students who want to learn new stuff!
Last weekend was one of those good times, with a roomful of folks ready to learn watercolor techniques, beginning on Saturday morning with simple exercises, like using a round or a flat brush, and spending the afternoon doing more complex techniques, such as laying washes and using frisket.
On Sunday, each participant put their new skills to use and did a painting or two of their own choice.
David is a children's book illustration certificate student. He worked on a monochromatic piece where he built up layers of color.
Trish came with her daughter, and worked on a Caribbean scene featuring cool blues and violets.
Satori is a doctor who enjoys art. He honed his skills by copying a Modigliani and Sargeant.
Marsha practices laying wet on wet washes in colors that were bolder than she was used to, as well as using masking techniques.
Sue worked on an illustration of animals in a classroom.
Nancy is a retired Providence teacher who focused on unifying her landscape painting.
Teri is a college instructor and a RISD children's book certificate student. She did the same illustration on both hot press and cold press papers to discover the differences between the two.
Thanks to all of you for making my weekend so much fun! (I invited student to send me jpegs of paintings that they finish up out of class, so maybe I'll have more to post later!)
Bill did two paintings, one of a ship on the waterfront, and another of a building in snow.
Heather did two beautiful paintings, experimenting with salt, masking, wet on wet and more.
Manette usually works with oils, so her foray into wet on wet and masking was new territory.
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Weekend Watercolor Intensive at RISD
A painting of the class in action done by student, Susan Klare.
I had a grand time with 13 fabulous students last weekend. They were all ready to spend a weekend learning more about watercolor. After a full day of exercises on Saturday, they painted their own pieces on Sunday. Here is one of the student paintings, a class portrait.
Below are pictures of most of the students, with their work in progress.
Susan and Whitney came for some artistic mom-daughter together time.
Here is an early version of Susan's class portrait.
Whitney is building up courage to add layers of paint.
Anna came with an amazing array of supplies, and she added energy to the weekend!
Jane expanded her color knowledge by working on color swatches.
Cheryl did a lovely scene of rocks, water and flowers.
Birch used resist techniques, and mixed red and green (complementary colors) to get his dark background.
The students had a wide range of backgrounds... from total beginners, to people who had some experience with watercolor but wanted to learn more, to experienced artists who were looking to learn another media.
Ben (how did I miss getting a picture of Ben!) drove up from DC for the weekend. He experimented with wet-on-wet and Yupo paper, and Miyoung created textured backgrounds with salt. Anne did a floral still life from a blooming kalanchoe. Lois worked on letterforms with delicate colors that she later planned to layer, overpaint, and even stitch into art pieces.
Several of the students enjoyed Waterfires after class on Saturday evening.
We had a photographer spend a few hours with us, so pictures of the class will probably show up in future RISD CE catalogs.
Thanks to all of the students for your creativity and enthusiasm! It was an exciting and fun weekend for me!
Lowry originally hoped for an absolutely flat sky, but her delicate clouds turned out even better.
Lynn did a painting of her grandparent's farm. She came all the way from Colorado to take summer classes at RISD-CE!
Alessandra took a break from law school to do several paintings.
Another Book Dummy Class is Done
I love teaching "The Book Dummy" at RISD CE. Every class is as exciting as the last, with students bringing in their own manuscripts and creating prototypes of their own children's book, called a "dummy" in the industry.
We begin with storyboards, small thumbnail sketches that help to create the design and pace of the book. Manuscripts are reworked (ie: slashed, revised, honed, refined, and on and on and on!!!)
Anne worked on a story written by her mother.
Alison's story was about Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Alison shared a quote she'd heard that summarized the class for her.
The difference between a dream and a goal...
is a deadline.
Twelve weeks passes quickly when you are turning a story into reality, with character development, color studies, layout, design, manuscript revision, and finished art.
It was a joy for me to watch each student bring their ideas into reality.
Roya and her husband Luc collaborated on a book about Colors.
Karen rewrote a Grimm's folktale.
Marcela's "Sisters" reflects her own experience of living in two different countries.
Jessica dummied up a poem by Peter S. Beagle, with the author's permission.
Sarita wrote her original manuscript in Marlo Garnsworthy's Children's Book writing class through RISD CE.
Rebecca's story was about growth and the cycle of life.
Illustration I and Book Dummy classes get together.
Lori Surdat Weinberg's Illustration I class joined us, and I look forward to
seeing many of them in a future Book Dummy class.
... and I brought my own dummy.
Watercolor Workshop Class at RISD-CE, 2017