Haunted Supply Co. + Dark and Stormy Night!

WOW!  There's so much I can say about this massive project and Big Class!!
I had the privilege to be on the Big Class design team to create products for the Haunting Supply Co. pop up shop! 

We designed postcards, candles, goggles, masks, t-shirts, bookmarks, glow-in-the-dark stickers, and other spooky haunting goods to sell at our 2nd Annual Dark and Stormy Night fundraiser!

Expect to see more of these items in the brick-and-mortar Haunting Supply store!  Learn more about the project and Big Class by visiting bigclass.org

You're Invited to Magic School!

"Magic School" By Dismas Simmons

Dismas wrote about the day he was invited to the Lage Witch School to study magic!  He was taught by Professor Nicki Minaj and studied the art of spell casting and potion making.   One night, while doing his homework, Dismas accidentally shook his want a little too hard and created a tornado! 

"The Birdface School" By Dejah Grimes

I had the privilege of working with Dejah in person!  When we read through her story she really wanted her illustration to focus on the climax: when Dejah turns herself into a dragon, throws the goblins in a bag, and tosses them into the sea!

Here's the finished book!  I'm so proud of everyone's finished stories and all the illustrations.
Find out more about Big Class here !

Balloon Man! Big Class Illustration

New from Akili Academy x Big Class: "Will You Be My Sidekick?"! 🎈

3rd grader Ronell wrote about a super hero with BALLOON POWERS! His sidekick is Spot the dog and together they defeated the evil Christian with *spoilers* jalapeño pizza! 🔥 

If you want to volunteer with Big Class now would be the time, they have 4 insanely fun projects lined up for spring! Visit BigClass.org/volunteer for more information on how to get involved.

"Unfinished Business" for Big Class Haunting Supply Co.

This month I had the honor of creating an "Unfinished Business" To-Do notepad for The Haunting Supply Co.  

"The New Orleans Haunting Supply Co. will supply the ghostly denizens of the Crescent City with souls, human disguises, t-shirts, and other goods and services for the non-corporeal. Following 826 National’s award-winning model, the storefront provides a unique portal for Big Class students, families, volunteers, and supporters."  (from big class.org)

Follow Big Class on Instagram and Facebook for the next pop-up location!  Soon there will be a permanent storefront in the Crescent City, keep your eyes peeled!

"Fireball Planet!" Illustrated for Big Class NOLA!

Thumbnail sketches and Character notes created in class with the author, Melven!

From August to November, the 3rd and 4th graders at Akili Academy wrote stories based on a new made up planet they created in class.  The writers were tasked with creating their own characters, setting, and story and I was tasked with bringing a story to life in pictures!  I got the chance to meet Melven, a 3rd grader who loves to write about people with different super powers.  His own characters in his story, Fireball Planet, had some pretty cool powers!  Timmy, the hero of the story, has fire powers, water powers, and can super kick!  When I met with Melven to brainstorm and discuss his illustration, he thought it would be cool to show the heroes discovering the evil TJ's army of fire robots!

The final  illustration.

The finished book!!

Thanks to Eliza for putting together this project and a special thanks to Melven for writing such an interesting and creative story for me to illustrate! I hope we get the chance to work on another project in the future.

If you're reading this and would like to make a donation to keep these (free) Big Class workshops and projects going please visit this link.  We are working on a BIG fundraiser this year and the deadline is in December, your $5 will go a long way!  THANK YOU!

"The Tale of Hot Dog and His Missing Green Shirt"

This past month I started volunteering with a wonderful organization called Big Class, an organization that supports young writers and storytellers in New Orleans.  In Big Class we create in-school programs and projects (like this Animal Origin Stories book) as well as projects in the St. Claude Big Class studio.

For "The Tale of Hot Dog and His Missing Green Shirt", Big Class invited 2nd graders from Sylvanie Williams College Prep to help the Big Classmates finish a book on a tight deadline!

That afternoon the 2nd graders helped us create a whole book from scratch.  While the kids were shouting ideas I was busy sketching down ideas for their characters and environment.  The main character ended up being a grouchy dog, named Hot Dog, who lived behind a movie theater.  Supporting characters are a raccoon, rat, cat, and skunk.
After the main story line and characters were created, the students then received blank paper to write their own ending and draw their own concluding illustration!

Here are my initial sketched from the kids' ideas they were giving our director, Doug, and the "typist", Eliza".  Second graders, by the way, are idea machines! It was very difficult to keep up with them they kept adding more and more awesome details to the story's characters and setting.

Each student received their own copy of the book the following week.
Here are three of the final illustrations and a pattern made from the initial sketches:

 
Working with Big Class is always a blast!!  It was crazy fun for me to record the 2nd graders insane ideas and fun for the students to have a "real professional artist" in the studio to work with them.