Art Portfolio Website Updated

I have gone through and updated my art portfolio site at http://www.kellynixonart.com . I added a slightly bigger and smoother slideshow to display the images. New artwork has been added to each section. Information in Resume and Contacts has been updated. Last but not least, I added links to my new Art Ed blog.

Light an Color Study: Added to Website

It took about a week (on and off) to get the slideshows and coding updated. The only major problem I came across happened right after I had uploaded the new version of the website to the server, to make it live. I had tried all my files locally on my computer and everything looked perfect. I added the files to my server on GoDaddy.com and then when I viewed my page, the main image for the slideshow wouldn't appear. I spent a day and a half trying to go through the html and javascript coding to see what was wrong. Finally, I checked to see if there were any suggestions online. One of the entries I found, talked about everything being case sensitive. I double checked my file names and sure enough, the website server had converted all the titles to lowercase and that was why the slideshow wouldn't work. Once I made the image titles lowercase to match the html file, the slideshow began functioning properly again.That is the funny thing about coding, one little mistake somewhere can throw everything off.

Now everything is ready to roll! Enjoy!

Bison Sketch: Added to Website

Anime and Manga Classes with Chesterfield Libraries

Since January 2013, I have been teaching some Anime and Manga drawing workshops with Chesterfield County Public Libraries. The classes were offered occasionally throughout the year on Saturdays as part of the Libraries' Teen Studio Program. The library and I provided all materials to students for the program.

These classes have also led to other opportunities like teaching at the Chesterfield Library Comic Con Events and being a guest artist/teacher at Meadowbrook High School's Anime Club.

 So far, I have taught 4 installments of the Classes covering different aspects of the topic.

The first class was Introduction to Manga and Anime. This class mainly covered how to draw faces, and figures in the Anime style. I also covered drawing facial expressions, mouths, hands, feet, clothes, and hair. Students used the information and techniques I taught them to draw their own Anime/Manga character. I taught students how to transfer drawings using carbon paper and how to finalize characters through inking. I provided various inking materials and techniques for them to experiment with including India ink, brushes, brush pens, multi-liner/micron pens, etc. I also taught a short version of this lesson at the 2013 Chesterfield Comic Con Event, which covered how to draw the face in the Anime style.

 

Ad for Intro to Manga and Anime Classes in the library's magazine

The second set of classes explored Character Design. I taught students how to use a matrix/chart to get unlimited ideas for characters, personalities, costumes, and environments. The matrix technique was from a book called The Manga Matrix by Hiroyoshi Tsukamoto. (This book is an absolutely awesome reference to have! I brought a copy to class so everyone could take a look at it.) In addition to the matrix, I reviewed how to draw the face and figure, taught how to draw unique characters from a basic shapes, body proportions for realistic vs unrealistic style characters, character variation, using a silhouette to check the strength of a character design, and inking.

Postcard Ad for Character Design Classes

 The third installment of the classes dealt with How to Make a Manga. First, I quickly reviewed how to draw a face, the figure, and character design. The main topics covered on making a manga included layout, panels, speech/word bubbles, font, sound and line effects, black and white vs. color in manga, planning and process of making a manga, publishing/sharing a manga, and inking. I had two exercises built into the lesson for students to try their hand at story telling, paneling, and speech bubbles.

Ad for How to Make a Manga Classes

My most recent class discusses How to Draw Chibi Anime and Manga Characters. In this lesson, I discuss what a chibi is, the characteristics of chibi's, body proportions, chibi characters vs regular anime characters, and how to draw a chibi. For drawing chibi's, I covered the face, eyes, bodies, mouths, facial expressions, hands, feet, clothes and hair. I taught this lesson at Meadowbrook High School recently and I will also be teaching it at this year's Chesterfield Comic Con Event on March 22nd from about 10:30-11:30.

Ad for 2014 Chesterfield Comic Con Event

These classes are so much fun! The students really seem to love them. We often talk about the anime they lik and even play some clips and songs from their favorite shows at the end of class. I love getting to see their drawings, they are really talented artists!

Art On Wheels

I was very fortunate to have a new teaching opportunity over the past year. It was working with a company called Art on Wheels. They are awesome!!! Basically they bring art classes to various groups in Virginia. These groups can be for children or adults at schools, churches, community centers, hospitals, local events, etc. The teacher brings all the supplies to the location, so all participants have to do is come in. I have been teaching a few regular art classes with the company over the Fall and on into this year. If you would like to learn more about Art on Wheels, visit their website at http://www.artonwheels-va.org/ .

I have two new classes this year, teaching creative painting to adults at the Cancer Institute at Reynolds Crossing and the St. Francis Cancer Institute. I will post more from them throughout the year.

Two of my Fall classes have been geared toward teaching adults with disabilities; one class at a local church and one at a historical location called the Walkerton Tavern. (Beautiful building if you get the chance to visit. It used to be a field hospital during the Civil War.) These classes tend to have between about 6-13 participants, so that allows for more one on one time. I love this because it gives me a chance to get to know the participants and help them with different aspects of projects as needed.

So far, we have done tissue paper collage, plaster casting, clay bowls, and marionettes.  

Here are a few photos from some of the Fall classes, the project was creating a tissue paper collage of a river scene over two class meetings. It was fun to see their different approaches. I had a few people who would take their time and tear their paper deliberately into smaller pieces and plan their landscape out. I also had a few who were more interested in the collage process and went more abstract with their designs. I had participants make a collage of their choice if they finished early, and had time for another piece. (It is always best to have a few back up lessons handy in case you have some fast workers. I started carrying paper and colored pencils as an additional back up.) The participants were really excited to work on one of their choice at the end because they could involve their interests. I had one student who wanted to make Ninja Turtles, so I brought in a reference and showed him how to draw the characters. Another student mentioned wanting to make a Whammy character from an 80's game show called Press Your Luck. She got so excited when I told her she could and I would help her to make the character! I pulled up a video and pic of the character and we used that as a reference. Several other students wanted to do Halloween pictures for theirs. Theses classes were a lot of fun to teach and everyone really enjoyed them!

 In some of the pictures you might see some aids (church class) or volunteers (Tavern class). These lovely ladies are all absolutely wonderful!! They clearly love working with the participants and really enjoy what they do. They were a big help during these classes!

Church Class:

 

Walkerton Tavern Class:

1st Post! Welcome to Kelly Nixon: Art Education

It is finally time to launch a blog dedicated to my love of Art Education! Here you will find a collection of my various lessons, ideas, and musings on Art Ed. I will be adding a lot of content over the next few days as I go through lessons from my teaching experiences. 

I have a list of links to my art oriented sites to the right if you would like to check out some of my personal artwork.

Check back often and enjoy!