The Importance of a Story - Character Design Workshop with Shelly Swann

In this workshop, Shelly will demonstrate how important it is to create a story behind the characters participants draw. With a backstory, characters will have more life and details based on their personality traits. She will showcase how she uses this method to create her own character designs for her picture book work. Each artist will choose a simple index card with a description of a character, and artists will then create an idea map. After they finish, Shelly will distribute materials to begin drawing. To conclude the workshop, everyone will showcase their character designs and explain their thought process. The goal of this workshop is to help artists understand that characters are much easier to draw when we know more about them. The purpose of the idea maps is to allow them to flesh out details of their characters. Shelly is hoping that the participants will continue using these character designs and skills for their own visual storytelling in the future.

This class is open to ages 15+.

About the Instructor:

Shelly Swann is a children’s book illustrator and muralist based in Portland, Oregon. She is represented by Jemiscoe Chambers-Black at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Shelly has been drawing since childhood, but began her illustration career in 2019. Since then, she has illustrated books, worked on zines, participated in art shows, local events, and much more. Her art can be found in various shops and galleries in the PDX area. In her free time, Shelly enjoys playing guitar, reading, singing, and camping. In 2020, she graduated from California State University, East Bay, with a BA in English Literature. Shelly aims to inspire people of all ages with her art, and empower her community through hosting artist meetups, educational workshops, and collaborative events.

Stay connected and up-to-date on Shelly’s art!

Instagram: @fairywulf

Twitter: @_fairywulf

Website: fairywulf.com

Host or Publisher Variable Creatives