If you are familiar with Mario, Hello Kitty, Pikachu, and Rilakkuma, then you can easily understand kawaii characters. In this class in New York City, we will explore Japanese contemporary drawing styles to create Japanese anime characters of our own vision and design. Students will also learn how to make manga (Japanese-style comic) and basic animation techniques.

Starting with basic drawing techniques, children will learn about and experience various mixed media (like crayon scratch, origami and magazine collage, making textures with acrylic color, using Japanese painting paper and so on…), watch Japanese animation, and create their own characters.

Our class is not just a fan art drawing class, but also a place where the potential of young vivid imaginations can be expanded through anime characters. Once students make their own characters, they will have the opportunity to “play” with them! A character drawn on paper can be converted to a digital media file to be animated.

East Village Manga Class

91 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10003

Instructor: Maiko Kuchler

– Recommended ages: 5 and up
– Thursdays
– 4:45pm-5:45pm
– $40 for 60 minutes

We will also be holding combined classes every Wednesday with our Kendama class! See the schedule below:

Combined Kendama & Manga Class

– Thursdays
– 3:45pm – 5:45pm
– $55 for 2 hours

Long Island City Manga Class

41-26 27th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101

Instructor: Kaoru Tamura

– Recommended ages: 5 and up
– Wednesdays
– 5:30pm – 6:30pm
– $40 for 60 minutes

**PLEASE NOTE: The class sign up deadline is 4 hours before the class begins. Cancellation after this period will NOT be refunded.**

Gallery

About Instructor

Maiko Kuchler

Maiko Kuchler has been teaching manga class at Resobox’s gallery for many years. She also offers drawing and animation classes to schools as well as private tutoring. Classwork is focused on children learning the basics of drawing simple body parts and facial expressions. Students gain experience with mechanical pencils, nib pens, tracing paper and other tools. She would like to share her love and passion in Manga with lots of children.

Kaoru Tamura

Born and raised in Japan, Kaoru immersed herself in manga and anime culture from a young age. She came to the US in 2000 to study art (graphic design, illustration, painting, drawing) and eventually landed a job as a graphic designer, while continuing to exhibit her fine art work and graphic novels on the side. Kaoru is interested not only in creating manga but also studying it from an academic perspective. She recently completed an MA at Washington University in St. Louis, where she wrote a thesis on one of her favorite manga works, Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas. (“When a Woman Betray the Nation: An Analysis of Hagio Moto’s The Heart of Thomas,” available online). She aspires to share her knowledge of manga as much as possible, giving instruction in manga drawing, discussing its cultural history, and promoting its value as a literary genre.