ABOUT THE PRESENTATION...

FOR YOUNGER GRADES (k-1) I have a presentation about my picture books Puppy Bus and Kitty Camp. We’ll read the story together and act out lots of the parts, then I walk them though the drawing process for creating the pages, and finally we’ll do a drawing together of a cat or dog from the books. This will be broken down step by step so that the kids can draw along with me. 

FOR SLIGHTLY OLDER KIDS (1st - 2nd ) my presentation about the Waffles and Pancake books are best suited. In this, I walk them through how I got interested in drawing and i turned that into a career of making stories. Then I use examples from the Waffles and Pancake books to explain the entire Graphic Novel creation process. In the end, we do a drawing together, where i show them how to draw on of my characters. This is broken down step by step so that the kids can draw along with me. 

FOR OLDER GRADES (3rd-5th and beyond) I have a presentation about the CatStronauts graphic series. In it, I discuss the real life NASA inspirations behind the CatStronauts books, walk them through the writing and drawing process, and then have a drawing activity where i teach them the secret to drawing the CatStronauts characters. The kids (and teachers) can bring their own paper and pencils and draw along with me. 

The Waffles and Pancake and CatStronaut presentations have a special visit from the actual character of Waffles (a puppet who travels with me.) He and I do a brief Q & A and Waffles gives them some important cat knowledge.

FOR UPPER LEVEL KIDS I like to present about how I found my career art. I walk them through when I got into drawing and comics at the age of 10, how that led me to study fine art in school, my decade of experience working as a graphic designer, and all the different twists and turns I took in becoming a children's author and illustrator. 

EPIC STORY CREATION is a fun story craft workshop for grades 3r and up. In this, I talk about the importance of characters in stories and show how I set about creating these characters. Then we start with a blank sheet of paper and design a character together. Once we have a character, I talk to them about a story creation method called the snowball method, where we take an idea for a story and slowly grow it into an epic story length. In the end, the students have a 9 panel comic outlining an original story. This is a really fun and interactive creation process, and the kids get to use a lot of imagination. 

Each Presentation lasts about 60 minutes total, this includes time for the kids to enter and exit, presentation, and Q and A at the end. 
I would require a projector or large video screen with an HDMI hookup to attach my iPad too and an easel to hang my drawing pad on.

Equipment Needed:

Projector or Large monitor with a HDMI connection. Large Easel with Drawing Pad.

Students can bring some drawing supplies with if they want to draw along during the drawing demo.

Virtual visits:

I am also able to work with whatever platform is easiest for you (Google Meet, Zoom, etc).