StettlerLocal.com September 20, 2020 @ 10:05AM
Stettler native Chance Clark hosted a comic-book-style art class Saturday afternoon, September 19 at the Stettler Public Library. Nine attendees participated in this Culture Days event as Clark discussed the ins and outs of pencil drawing familiar comic book characters.
Clark graduated from the Art Institute of Vancouver and has a strong background in both two- and three-dimensional art techniques. He is adept with a pencil but just as comfortable with a Wacom tablet. He emphasized that the quality of your art doesn’t depend on how much you spend on supplies, and that you can create fascinating and realistic characters just as well on a paper napkin as you can in Adobe Illustrator.
Clark showed us several examples of different ways to draw the same familiar characters, saying that every artist brings their own style to them, but somehow we always recognize Batman even if an artist plays with his proportion. Spiderman always has a long, swinging movement to him even in still drawings, no matter who draws him. Check out his take on familiar superheroes and villains, as well as characters of his own creation, here: https://www.artstation.com/visualmerc
He encouraged us all to play with basic shapes to find the movement of a character, emphasizing the silhouette. Clark knows how easy it is to get caught up in being your own worst critic and erasing more than you draw, but advised us all to keep going, even drawing over mistakes just to explore the space.
One student in particular was paying very close attention, asking questions and practicing while her dad took notes of the names of illustration software and other supplies needed for digital art.
Madison Girard (13), a grade 8 student, came to the art workshop prepared with her own sketchbook and drawing supplies. Pencil drawings of familiar video game characters jumped from the pages, yet Girard mentioned she’d only ever taken art classes several years prior. The Stettler artist says she prefers to watch YouTube tutorials and find inspiration on websites like Pinterest.
When asked what her favourite things were to draw, Girard said she’s a fan of the video game Skyrim, and loves to recreate those characters as well as other fantasy-based creatures like dragons. Her ultimate favourite, though, is the character Haku from the animated feature film Spirited Away.
Girard mentioned that the creative genes are abundant in her family, saying “I think I was born with a pencil in my hand.” Her dad is a musician. Her mom is also an artist, but she said most of her talent comes from her grandfather. “He passed his gift down to me,” she acknowledged. By the looks of her sketchbook, Madison Girard might just be the next local artist teaching drawing classes.
To find out more about Stettler's Alberta Culture Days events go to http://www.stettlerboardoftrade.com/CultureDays
