Back to School Family Shading Workshop

Give your child the number one drawing skill families ask us for: shading. It makes their art look real and shows them their patience and hard work pay off.

Back to School Family Shading Workshop with Ms. Amanda Kazemi

Live on Zoom  ·  Lifetime Replay Included  ·  Free for Members

📅 Sunday, September 13 🕒 1:00pm ET / 6:00pm UK

Free for Kids Cartoon Academy members. Non-members can join for $27.

This month Mr. G is hosting Ms. Amanda Kazemi, a gallery artist who specializes in realistic graphite and charcoal shading and has guided thousands of Kids Cartoon Academy students through these skills.

Ms. Amanda Kazemi with her artwork
Graphite artwork by Ms. Amanda Kazemi

We're drawing the famous Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, the classic determined troublemaker who keeps getting back up. He starts as flat basic shapes. By the end, you and your child will have given him fur with real weight, direction, and depth using light and shadow.

This is what it looks like when Ms. Amanda teaches us to bring cartoon characters to life with realistic shading and texture:

Students holding their shaded artwork from a previous workshop
Parent post about their child's shading progress

How to Join as Member

This workshop is included in your membership. Your Zoom link is waiting in your Members Portal, your Members Calendar, and the Members Community. One Zoom link covers everyone at your table, so bring the whole family.

Can't make it live? The replay will be available afterward, so your artist can enjoy it at their own pace.

Want to invite a family that is not a member of Kids Cartoon Academy? They can join for $27. (and just $17 if they join now!) Share this link with them. 

Why this workshop arrives at the perfect time

School is starting. Homework grows, activities pile up, and the sketchbook gets pushed to the side. This is exactly the moment kids need reminding that they can do hard things. Not just in drawing. In academics, sports, whatever they put their mind to.

Shading rewards the kid who slows down and keeps going, and they get to watch that pay off on the page in real time. There's no better proof than finishing something worth framing, step by step, in one sitting.

This one is built for parents to sit down and draw alongside your kid if you're available. Ms. Amanda teaches it so a nine-year-old and a grown-up can both follow along, and both walk away with something worth putting on the wall. Grown-ups have a blast at these too, so pull up a chair.

Plus, If you draw along, you'll have the same shared language that we give them about overcoming Crankyfurters, measuring their progress as proof that they can do hard things, and seeing proof of what they can accomplish with focus and patience. You can point back to the drawing as proof of it all.

What You Will Learn

In this 1.5-hour workshop, Ms. Amanda will walk us all through the pencil techniques that turn flat shapes into believable texture.

✏️ Control pencil pressure and grades so fur builds gradually from light to dark
🐾 Layer short, directional strokes that follow the way fur actually lies on an animal's body
🌀 Blend graphite with a Q-tip or blending stump for the soft transitions that make shading look smooth
✨ Lift highlights back out with a kneaded eraser, which is how you get the shine that makes fur look alive
🧘 Train your eyes, hands, and mindset to slow down, build control, and see how extra patience changes the drawing on the page

These are the same techniques Ms. Amanda uses in her gallery work. Once your kid has them, they carry over to hair, fabric, feathers, and anything else they draw.

What Kids Have Created With Ms. Amanda in Previous Classes With Us:

Student shading artwork from a previous workshop
Student shading artwork from a previous workshop
Charcoal animal drawing by a KCA student
  • Your kid finishes one piece worth framing, start to finish, in a single sitting.
  • They see how their own patience and effort lead to amazing results, exactly what they need heading into a new school year.
  • It's a head start on the September pencil unit in our live classes, so your kid walks into the fall already ahead.

Supplies

Required supplies

  • Pencil
  • Eraser
    • a thin eraser. A retractable eraser is so handy, highly recommended. But you could get by with the eraser on the back of your pencil.
    • A bigger typical block eraser or kneaded eraser of any sort would come in handy for erasing larger areas too
  • Blending tool: Q-tip or a blending stump
  • Drawing or sketching paper

Recommended for best results

Don't stress if you can't get a sketching set. Ms. Amanda will show you how to get similar (but not quite as good) results with a single pencil.

💌 Want to invite someone who's not a member to Kids Cartoon Academy?

Share this link with them. Non-members can join this workshop for $27 (just $17 if they join now!), and their lifetime replay is included. It's a great first taste of what we do here every month.

❓ Questions Families Ask

What ages is this for?

Ages 7-14 with some basic drawing experience. No drawing experience? Then the grownup should be there to assist.

What if we can't make it live?

You still get everything. The replay will be available afterward, so you can do it over two afternoons instead of one, pause it, rewind it.

What if my supplies don't arrive in time?

Draw with what you have. One pencil, one eraser, and paper is genuinely enough, and Ms. Amanda will show you how to get similar results with a single pencil. The sketching set and retractable eraser makes it easier and gets the best results.

Is this really free for members?

Yes. It's included in your membership, along with the replay. Non-members pay $27 for the same workshop.

Ready to create art with depth and texture worth framing?

And to discover what your focus and patience can accomplish?

Sunday, September 13  ·  1:00pm ET / 6:00pm UK

Free for members. Your Zoom link is in the Members Portal, Members Calendar, and Members Community.