Illustrating Characters and the Stories They Tell

This class will teach you how to draw characters as a way to develop stories. Instructor Mary Jane Begin is an award-winning illustrator and author of children’s picture books, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate and professor in the Illustration Department. Mary Jane explains the importance of narrative in all creative fields, and how to develop them.
In this class she covers: 

• The key elements of story creation: working from the inside out, letting intuition flow, working with limitations
• Seeking out prompts to springboard story
• The elements of Character development

Mary Jane will give you a prompt to jump start story and demonstrate how to develop it. You’ll learn about the fundamental human response to a particular character style, and how to make decisions that elicit story.

• Class Introduction
• Rely on Your Own Story
• Creating Characters
• Developing Personality of the Character
• How to Make Characters Feel Authentic
• Character Development Q&A
• Start with the Shadow Cast by a Character
• Demo: Start with Shadow Cast
• Demo: Facial Expression & Body Anatomy
• Demo: Character Costume & Props
• Demo: Add Details to Sketch
• Demo: Add Color to Sketch
• Demo: Finalize Image with Color
• Illustrating Characters Q&A