The Illustration Academy (1)

During the summers of the past several years, The Illustration Academy has brought together some of America's most accomplished and best-known illustrators to share their insights and advice with students. The students range in age from eighteen to sixty years old and have come from not only the United States, but as far away as Hong Kong, England, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, and Argentina.

Unique to the illustration field is the fact that a graduating student is thrust into the market place and forced to compete with established illustrators. The mission of the Academy is to shorten the gap that exists between the student and the working professional. This problem is resolved using a rigorous hands-on approach implemented by the faculty. The students work through each assignment with a logical step-by-step approach to produce finished illustrations. Driven by real-world examples and deadlines, the students are encouraged to focus on concepts, techniques, and to pursue a personal point of view to make their work unique. Along side the technical demonstrations of media and life drawing skills, the Academy focuses on the functional business practices in the field of illustration. These include self-promotion, advertising, contracts, taxes and accounting.

The location of the 2011 illustration Academy

1427 West 9th St. KC,MO 64101

George Pratt, Instructor, Demonstration for a character illustration

"the campfire discussion," here at the Academy

The studio takes up the whole 6th floor of the Hobbs building in the West Bottoms of Kansas City

Alex, Ross, and Chelsea dig into some cup cakes

George Pratt showing us how he uses reference on his IPAD.

George Pratt and Jude discussing with Trey Bryan, studio lead, about his current body of work.

Sishirprithvi and James making monotypes

John English, Mark English, and Brent Watkinson 

Downtown Kansas City

The students working in the studio

The studio before the mayhem

Our Printing Press!!

Shots form the first gathering on the first night of the Academy

John discussing the Illustration academy as well as introducing Mark English to the students.

George Pratt giving a demo on drawing from great reference.

Here George is discussing the importance of variation of line widths and how it affects the weight of mood of a drawing. 

Students enjoying George's stories while showing them  

The 2011 Illustration Academy has officially started with John's presentation