New art classes offered

High School Art Teacher Ms. Lauren Richie is offering two new art classes this year: Illustration and Animation along with Stage Design and Theater Makeup.

The Illustration and Animation class teaches students different types of illustration. According to Ms. Richie, the 14 students enrolled in it are currently working on medical illustration. She added they will also learn informational and plant life illustration, as well as produce comic strips and flip books.

The goals of the class include exposing students to different kinds of illustration “because illustration is not just Mickey Mouse and Pokémon,” said Ms. Richie. She added that she wants her students “to realize the class could be the start of a lucrative career in art that they don’t have to be the stereotype of a starving artist.”

Stage Design and Theater Makeup is a group project, team orientated class that gives   students real life experiences involved in stage design as well as theater makeup, according to Ms. Richie. She said she currently has four students who meet every other day to work on scale diagrams for the fall play set.

The goal for the Stage Design and Theater Makeup class is to work as a team to build the fall play set and eventually do stage and theatre makeup, said Ms. Richie. Students will experience real life situations like meeting with the stage building director and finding out what materials are needed, she added.

Ms. Richie said she recommends taking the Introduction to Art class before taking the Stage Design and Theater Makeup class. Introduction to Art is required to take the Illustration and Animation class, and taking Drawing is also recommended, said Ms. Richie. She added that she plans to continue both new classes every year as long as there is enough interest.

Sophomore Alexis Shade is taking Ms. Richie’s drawing class in addition to Illustration and Animation. “We do sketches in both classes, and I can build on what I learn in the drawing class in the Illustration and Animation class,” said Alexis.

Ms. Richie said she decided to add these classes because not every student wants to take drawing or painting.  She said she wanted more opportunities for the students who are interested in different art career fields.

According to Ms. Richie, the most challenging thing about teaching a new class is the unknown, including not knowing how long a project might take or if certain things will work. She said in her other classes, she had years to learn and improve projects and assignments. With these classes, everything is new, she added.

The best part of teaching a new class is “watching the students realize that there is art beyond high school, real jobs in the art field other than being a painter or photographer, like game design and costume design,” said Ms. Richie.