Alex Dahm

Work alongside fellow campers to imagine, design, and then create the various elements of a brand new fantastical world full of your own characters, wildlife, structures, histories, and more. This mixed-media course will feature projects in illustration and comics, sculpture, 3-D modeling, and creative writing. Visits to the Art Institute of Chicago will feature an exploration of artists who have also created their own worlds in celebrated fine art across history.

This course offers an introduction to drawing as an exciting means of expression through writing, discussion, sketchbooks, and individual and group projects. Students explore a variety of drawing techniques and approaches, including essential elements of 2D design and art, as they develop an understanding of line, shape, shading, and light. Visit the Art Institute of Chicago to gain inspiration from a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, and objects. This course is designed for beginning students as well as those who want to continue developing their skills and confidence in drawing, and can be repeated for continued skill and idea building.

This camp, for students age 10-11, offers students the opportunity to focus on their drawing and painting skills in a highly creative and challenging environment. Through individual and collaborative projects, students are introduced to both traditional and experimental materials and methods and explore a variety of drawing techniques and approaches to build their technical, spatial, and creative abilities, including essential elements of 2D design and art. Working with a wide range of materials, students investigate contemporary subjects and themes using pencil, charcoal, pastel, ink, gouache, water-based paint, and mixed-media through skills such as line, perspective, tone, proportion, composition, value, gesture, and contour. Trips to the Art Institute of Chicago Museum to observe and sketch from a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, and objects are used as inspiration for studio work (virtual tours are featured if your course is online). This camp is designed for beginning students as well as those who want to continue developing their skills and confidence in drawing and painting, and can be repeated for continued skill and idea building.

In this camp, students take their illustrations to the next level by creating their own unique comics and graphic novels. Emphasis is placed on storytelling, introducing students to character development, plot structure, scripting, and storyboarding. Skills in penciling, inking, coloring, space, and perspective are introduced through the use of a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional media, such as colored pencils, oil pastels, watercolors, digitally edited drawings, and handmade zines. Artist presentations, trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, and visits to downtown Chicago's vast array of public art provide inspiration and drawing practice as an entry into the basics of comic narrative and stylization.

This course guides students through the process of bringing illustrations to the next level by creating unique comics and graphic novels. Emphasis is placed on storytelling, introducing students to character development, plot structure, scripting, and storyboarding. Skills in pencilling, inking, coloring, space, and perspective are introduced through the use of a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional media, which may include colored pencils, oil pastels, watercolors, digitally edited drawings, and/or handmade zines. Artist presentations, trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, and visits to downtown Chicago's vast array of public art provide inspiration and drawing practice as an entry into the basics of comic narrative and stylization. *Basic drawing skills are helpful, but not required.