Instructor Stories: Kenard Pak
Introduction
We are so lucky to have Kenard Pak teaching our Textures in Your Illustrations intensive this month.
Kenard Pak has worked on animation for Dreamworks, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Television, PDI Dreamworks, Laika, Blue Sky, Hornet, and Oculus Story Studio.
In addition to animation, Kenard Pak writes and illustrates children’s books, and Kirsten Hall at the Catbird Agency represents Ken’s work.
Kenard’s Books
Ken wrote and illustrated the following picture books: Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter; Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring; and Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn. He has also illustrated picture books for various authors and has a couple of board books, as well.
Here are some of Kenard Pak’s books:
Textures in Your Illustrations with Kenard Pak
I have a bunch of talented artists in my Storyteller Academy critique group, and they help me with my illustration. A few months ago, I was expressing some frustration with Photoshop, and they unanimously told me to quit trying to draw in Photoshop with my mouse and just scan my artwork into Photoshop.
Ken’s intensive is basically a detailed, step-by-step guide to what my critique group advised me to do. It’s fabulous.
One of the most persistent arguments against digital art is that the art is just too flat. Texture adds interest and beauty. Ken shares his techniques for adding texture to pencil drawings, working with negative space, painting textured backgrounds, and even making his own textured digital brushes in Photoshop from his art.
Ken demonstrates all of the steps, from drawing and painting background elements, to drawing your main characters on tracing paper, to scanning each element, to making all of the pieces work come together in Photoshop. He’ll show you why you should pick an accent color. He’ll even give suggestions for where you can find a scanner if you don’t own one.
You can register for Kenard Pak’s intensive HERE.
Book Giveaway Details
I’m giving away one of Ken’s books. To enter, just let me know which book you’d like to win in the comments by midnight on August 14. You don’t have to buy the intensive or be a student. If you don’t live in the States, just make sure it’s something that Book Depository carries, and you’re also welcome to enter.
Please share this post on social media for extra entries, and paste the link to wherever you shared as a reply to your original comment.
Thank you for reading!
Blog Contributors
Myrna Foster writes and edits content for Storyteller Academy and the WriteRiders Newsletter for SCBWI Nevada. She has spent a lot of time teaching and coaching children, including five years as a preschool teacher. She’s also worked as a journalist, and Highlights High Five has published six of her poems.
Arree Chung is an author/illustrator and the founder of Storyteller Academy. Arree’s Ninja! series has received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. Kirkus also gave a starred review to Mixed, which recently won the FCGB award.
Today Arree lives a creative life, making stories for children. Arree spends most of his time making picture books, writing middle grade novels, and sharing his love for art, design, and storytelling with kids and dreamers everywhere.