This year in the Certificate II in Visual Art, there has been a strong focus on embedding drawing design skills into each project, with students learning a wide range of techniques and media including still life observation, 3D rendering, stylisation, one-point perspective, Adobe Illustrator and more. As a part of our focus on drawing, we have invited two emerging Melbourne-based Illustrators to present to our students and run workshops that showcase their industry skills.
In Term 2, Caleb Azeez, a local teacher/musician/artist showcased his graphic design and illustration work (including 10+ of his mind-blowingly beautiful sketchbooks) to our students and taught a range of techniques to help students explore style and understand how they can develop their own personal style and express emotions effectively in their work. Students loved watching Caleb work real-time and under pressure to figure out how to use shape and line to communicate the ideas they were handballing him. It was fantastic to see students feeling confident and inspired to try new directions in their own work and take a more playful approach to sketching.
In Term 3, we had Ashley Ronning, full-time Illustrator and zine-queen join us for a zine-making workshop to share with students the rich history of the artform and to show them some of the exciting possibilities of this vital avenue for self-publication and distribution of their drawing work. Our students took instantly to the format, finding ways to illustrate their own perspectives and stories with impressive humour, daring and wisdom!
