**New adult class added!**

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.

Wednesday Classes

Kids Class

– Recommended ages: 5 and up
– 5:30pm – 6:30pm
– $35 for 60 minutes

**NEW** Saturday Classes

Kids Class

– Recommended ages: 5 and up
– 11:30am – 12:30pm
– $35 for 60 minutes

Adults Class

– Recommended ages: 18 and up
– 12:30pm – 1:30pm
– $35 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

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.