Artist and Educator based in the Pacific Northwest. I create drawings and paintings inspired by fantasy and color; arts education project and lesson plans for all.
jenhernandezart.com/theatelierista
In this class, we’ll create comic characters, make 4-panel comics, practice illustration techniques for character design, figure drawing, expression and story-telling. Students can come with ideas for a comic they want to create, characters they’ve been working on, or start fresh with character and story prompts provided in class! All materials provided, attend any one day or all 4 days.
Day 1: Creating Characters Design characters with backstories, using character reference charts
Day 2: Quick Comics Make a quick 4-panel comic based on step-by-step prompts
Day 3: Details and Expressions Use line in illustration and angles in comics to create drama, tension and expression
Day 4: Using the Senses to Create Comics How to make a visual comic that a reader can “hear” “smell” “taste” or “touch”
This class is perfect for students interested in comics, webcomics, graphic novels, character design and story writing.
Hosted at Lebanon Public Library, this class is 4 days. Each day can be attended individually.
Class for young artists on character design and illustration
In this 3-day Spring Break Camp, students will create their own characters for a class role-playing adventure game!
Design and draw characters using illustration techniques and tools, create a backstory including strengths, weaknesses, motivations and conflicts. Then, launch your character into an adventure RPG to collect tools, develop experiences and interact with other characters!
This class is perfect for students interested in storytelling, role-playing games, comics, fantasy and adventure. Students will leave with a sketchbook of character details, polymer clay figurines of their character, tools, and sidekicks, plus stickers of illustrations and images.
Hosted at The Arts Center, this class is 3 days. All materials included: clay, drawing tools, collage, and a handmade sketchbook for creating your own adventure!
Class for young artists on character design and illustration
In this 4 week class, students will create their own characters for a class role-playing adventure game!
Design and draw characters using illustration techniques and tools, create a backstory including strengths, weaknesses, motivations and conflicts. Then, launch your character into an adventure RPG to collect tools, develop experiences and interact with other characters!
This class is perfect for students interested in storytelling, role-playing games, comics, fantasy and adventure. Students will leave with a sketchbook of character details, polymer clay figurines of their character, tools, and sidekicks, plus stickers of illustrations and images.
Paint your favorite characters from Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated films
Sink into a warm drink, surrounded by gorgeous plants, and dip your brush into luscious gouache as you settle in to paint some of your favorite characters and scenes from Studio Ghibli’s classic films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, How’s Moving Castle, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
In this workshop, beginner and experienced painters will have all they need to create small masterpieces celebrating some of the most iconic images from Miyazaki’s films. Learn the basics of layering and painting with gouache, enjoy delicious plant-based tea and coffee drinks and take your project home along with extra paints for more cozy painting nights to come.
Workshop Registration
One night workshop Friday, April 18 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Gouache is perfect for sweet illustrations as well as fine art painting with details. In this animal painting workshop, we’ll explore the full creative capacity of gouache to create unique small paintings with stunning color and texture. Perfect for beginners, small groups, teens and adults, this workshop includes everything you need to create a sweet spring scene!
Workshop Details DATE/ TIME: Sunday, September 10, 2:00 – 4:00 pm LOCATION: Common Fields in downtown Corvallis 545 SW 3rd St, Corvallis, OR
In this 2-hour workshop, we’ll practice with gouache, a water-soluble paint, to illustrate favorite animals of the furry, feathered, scaly, and even slimy variety. References, paint, paper and equipment are all included.
No painting or drawing experience needed for this laid back art-making afternoon!
Make a totally unique memento of the season in this 2-hour workshop where we’ll capture summer memories in gouache. Perfect for beginners, small groups, teens and adults, this workshop includes everything you need to create a sweet spring scene!
Workshop Details DATE/ TIME: Sunday, July 16, 2:00 – 4:00 pm LOCATION: Common Fields in downtown Corvallis 545 SW 3rd St, Corvallis, OR
In this 2-hour workshop, we’ll practice with gouache, a water-soluble paint, to create postcard that can be sent to your friends in far off places, or added to a memory board at home. References, paint, paper and equipment are all included.
No painting or drawing experience needed for this laid back art-making afternoon!
Lane Arts Design Mentees in my Digital Storytelling group got to hangout with Corvallis-based illustration artist Janique Crenshaw this month for a Ask An Artist session!
This group is the 4th generation of my Digital Storytelling class with Lane Arts Council Art and Design Mentorship program. In this class, students learn story writing, character design, planning, illustration and coding a website for visitor interactivity. Their stories are published on my student website creativeaccessart.com, where anyone can read their stories, click through illustrations, and even choose their own adventures.
Since the beginning of winter term in mid-January, this group of students have been working on creating stories, making comics, and designing characters, as well as navigating doc-sharing platforms, uploading to the class website and building community within our group. Since this class is generally focused on digital art (although not exclusively, students have the option to work with traditional media as well), for our mid-term class session, I decided to switch it up and brought in some gouache (my favorite!) painting.
Students worked on a character chart for the characters the’ire currently imagining, and then practiced painting those characters in gouache.
Also for this class, we had Janique Crenshaw, a fellow Corvallis-based artist join us virtually to talk about her artwork, what inspires her and answer student questions.
Janique’s work is colorful, inspired by popular media in movies, music, and shows, and she explores identity in her traditional and digitial illustrations. She was perfect to talk to this group of students who are creating in their own voices, inspired by media in books, movies and games.
Before meeting Janique, students came up with a list of questions to ask her, including:
Do you ever really feel satisfied with art that you make? (They started out with the big questions.)
What’s the first artwork you made that wasn’t scribbles?
How to do you get into conventions?
What’s your favorite/ least favorite work of art that you made?
Is bread the best food? (This is both an actual question and actually my favorite question my students asked. Janique’s answer was correct, by the way: it depends on the bread and she likes garlic bread.)
For the next 6 weeks, these students will work on refining their story ideas, illustrating their work and uploading to the student website, where they’ll add the interactive elements that makes these stories unique. They’ll be celebrated at the April First Friday Art Walk in Eugene at Spark on 7th, where folks can come by and try out their interactive stories in-person!
What’s more romantic than hanging out in the studio, hot cocoa in my thermos and paint on my hands?
For this Valentine’s day, I teamed up with The Arts Center in Corvallis to spend the evening expressing my love of crafting in a special workshop making jewelry with polymer clay!
Although it’s not my main artform, I love crafting with polymer clay. I like the feeling of being able to make something I can hold in my hand, with relatively accessible materials and equipment. For this class, we used Sculpey Premo polymer clay in various colors, acrylic paint, bakeable clay adhesive, gold foil. We also used various clay tools including rollers, styluses, and ball tools. This class was designed to be beginner-friendly, with step-by-step instruction and the goal of a completed project in 2 hours.
We started out the evening working on faux quartz charms for earrings, broaches, and necklace pendants. The process includes cutting transparent clay down and mixing it with a small amount of acrylic paint. Then we used bakeable adhesive and gold or silver foil to replicate the veins in quartz stone. We then rolled out slabs to cut or shape into desired pieces. Through the process, we got hands on with conditioning clay and using tools. The end products were really lovely!
The second half of the workshop focused on making jewelry from clay slabs, which included selecting contrasting colors, shaping pieces and then layering to create cool designs. In this process, folks got to experiment with representational pieces that evoked memories of classic jewelry elements, as well as abstract pieces that embraced the vibrant colors and textures of the clay.
This was a super fun way to spend Valentine’s evening with a group of cool folks just making stuff! Thanks so much to The Arts Center for hosting our workshop!
Want to know about other classes like this one? Follow this blog for updates!
Paint your favorite characters from Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated films
Sink into a warm drink, surrounded by gorgeous plants, and dip your brush into luscious gouache as you settle in to paint some of your favorite characters and scenes from Studio Ghibli’s classic films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, How’s Moving Castle, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
In this workshop, beginner and experienced painters will have all they need to create small masterpieces celebrating some of the most iconic images from Miyazaki’s films. Learn the basics of layering and painting with gouache, enjoy delicious plant-based tea and coffee drinks and take your project home along with extra paints for more cozy painting nights to come.
One night workshop Friday, March 17 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Register at Greenhouse Coffee+ Plants (coming soon)
Create beautiful statement pieces or subtle accents in this clay jewelry class
Practice techniques in making faux quartz and decorated slab pieces for earrings, pendants and rings. In this class, students will learn basics in hand building and shaping; we’ll bake our pieces in-studio so that at the end, you’ll have jewelry ready to wear or give as a gift!
Perfect for pairs and groups looking to spend a romantic night of crafting with tea and treats available at The Arts Center.
