Forget friendship bracelets, Manga Summer Camp caters to the anime enthusiast.
Many of us are familiar with the style of Japanese drawing or cartooning known as manga (or anime, in its animated version) through Dragon Ball Z and Pokémon. It’s often found in comics and graphic novels.
Laura Anderton has enjoyed drawing in this style since she was a kid and wanted to provide that opportunity to other kids. In 2013, she began teaching classes at area libraries, anime conventions and through private lessons. Five years ago, she converted an unfinished room in her Middleton home into Sugoi Arts studio so she could offer classes more consistently.
Student work from Sugoi Arts’ classes is quite realistic.
Sugoi, meaning “cool” or “awesome” in anime speak, has space for eight students to participate comfortably, although Anderton has managed up to 11 students in the studio. Anderton says the middle school years are the ideal age for learning manga.
“I feel the teen and tween population are looking for a very intense kind of instruction,” says Anderton.
The anime style is very realistic, influenced by the classical method of drawing. “You start with basic skeleton — something that Da Vinci did — and build on that. Teaching a classical way of drawing and building on something [is what] these teens and tweens are into. The kids really appreciate it.”
There are also social benefits to the manga classes. Anderton says her students are often on the quieter side at first, but once they realize they are surrounded by like-minded peers, they start to open up and develop friendships.
For younger kids (7-12 years old), Sugoi Arts offers cartooning. Students are exposed to many of the same principles as manga, but the methodology is less intense. Students learn to draw the human form and animal forms, and eventually build their own characters which Anderton blows up with an image enlarger so the kids can create a poster-size watercolor or acrylic painting.
Anderton will be holding two manga summer camps and one summer cartooning camp (mornings for a week/$215). Anderton also offers private lessons ($45/hour) to individuals and groups like homeschoolers and Girl Scout troops. She is passionate in her mission to expose more kids to drawing.
“We used to teach drawing like math,” Anderton says. “It was something that you learned because it’s an important way to see the world. You see the world differently when you learn how to draw.”
For more information, see sugoi-arts.com.
