Hi there, and thank you for your interest in Jarrett Lerner’s Creator Club!

This summer, Jarrett will be hosting a five-week “course.” Everyone is welcome, but the lessons and materials will be geared toward young creators between the ages of 6 and 12.

Jarrett has been working closely with kids for more than a decade, and over thousands of hours and with tens of thousands of kids, he has created a wealth of engaging, fun, inspiring, and productive instructional content. Jarrett’s goal when working with kids is to always leave them not just impressed by what HE can do, but – much more importantly – impressed by what THEY can do. Kids tend to leave his sessions feeling confident in their abilities and energized to further explore, use, and share their creativity.

Here’s how this summer’s Creator Club will work . . .

Every week, Jarrett will conduct a live, interactive session exploring a particular topic (see below for more detailed descriptions of each week’s session, plus a note on the availability of recordings of the sessions). The sessions will include tips, techniques, strategies, and exercises that attendees can put to use on their own to further experiment and explore that week’s topic, and to further develop and hone their skills. In addition, attendees will be given access to bonus content – activity sheets, prompts, and videos, all created by Jarrett – to use, if they wish, in the days between sessions.

Each week’s session will run approximately 75 minutes (Jarrett will not stop promptly at the 75-minute mark if he and the attendees are in the middle of something important and productive). The first part of each week’s session will be the “lesson” portion, which, depending on the week, will run between 45 and 60 minutes (it will be engaging and interactive – a visually rich discussion as opposed to a lecture). The remainder of the session will be left open for Q&A, so that Jarrett can make sure to address and teach about aspects of any given topic that attendees are particularly interested in. If questions are not forthcoming, Jarrett will fill the remainder of any given session with additional instruction, extra tips, and individual and/or group exercises.

To learn more about the particular sessions Jarrett is offering during this summer’s course, see below.

Creator Club (Summer 2023)

IMPORTANT: These sessions are made for creators of ALL skill levels and ALL levels of familiarity. In other words, you can attend – and learn lots and have fun – whether you have never tried to draw or make a comic or write a story before, or you already love and do these things regularly.

Week 1: Drawing

In this session, Jarrett will share a variety of techniques that can be used to draw anything and everything. Whether an attendee has never attempted to draw before, or is someone who loves it and does it regularly, the material presented will be applicable – it will either serve as a foundation from which one can further develop their skills and style, or as a new collection of strategies and exercises to assist one on their ongoing drawing journey.

Week 2: Comic-Making

In this session, Jarrett will explore how comics work, and will share how one can make meaning and create stories using the unique language of comics. Once again, the material presented in this session will be applicable both for those who have never tried to make a comic before and those who are already making their own comics strips, books, or even graphic novels.

Week 3: Character Creation

In this session, Jarrett will explore the importance of character in stories and storytelling. Attendees will learn how to figure out why they find their own favorite characters so great, and then learn how to create characters who are equally compelling. This topic, and all of the associated matters, will be explored from a verbal, writing perspective as well as a visual, design perspective.

Week 4: Story-Building

In this session, Jarrett will share many of the ways one can find ideas for stories, and will then go on to explore what to do once you have an idea. Attendees will leave this session with multiple, easy-to-use techniques for “building” a comprehensive, compelling story from scratch. Jarrett will further share how, once a story’s scaffolding (or general shape, or outline) has been laid out, one can use that structure to figure out what words and/or pictures to use to tell that story, whether writing prose or making comics or doing some combination of both.

Week 5: Digital Drawing and Book-Making Tour

In this session, Jarrett will give a quick crash course in digital art, sharing a variety of tips, techniques, strategies, and methods for productively and powerfully using digital drawing platforms (such as the relatively affordable Procreate, as well as other, similar ones). Building on this, Jarrett will walk attendees through the process of how a book actually becomes a book – from an idea in one’s head, to a first draft in a notebook or on a computer, to a physical, bound-and-glued bundle of pages one can pick up in a bookstore or library (and all the steps in between, too).

PRICE (INCLUDING ACCESS TO ALL FIVE SESSIONS, PLUS ASSOCIATED BONUS CONTENT: $250 (US). Once an attendee has signed up, an invoice will be sent to the email address supplied in the below registration form.

START TIME OF ALL FIVE SESSIONS: Wednesdays at 10 am EST (on July 12, July 19, July 26, August 2, and August 9). Sessions will be held on Zoom. Links to join each session will be sent out each week, either on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, to the email address supplied in the below registration form.

NOTE ON RECORDINGS: All sessions will be LIVE, meaning attendees can interact with Jarrett in real time, and also have the chance to ask their questions and share their thoughts. However, all attendees will also have access to recordings of the sessions, should they be unable to attend one week or several weeks, or if they simply wish to tune into all of the sessions on their own time. These recordings will be available for a limited time only (for up to one week after each session), will be password protected, and will be prevented from being shared.

***IMPORTANT:* *Attendees can only be signed up by parents or legal guardians.***

To sign a child up for Jarrett Lerner’s Creator Club Summer 2023, fill out the Registration Form, which can be found by clicking HERE.

Want to share about Jarrett Lerner’s Creator Club Summer 2023 with others? While you can, of course, simply share a link to this page of Jarrett’s website, you can also download and print a one-page flier about Jarrett Lerner’s Creator Club Summer 2023 by clicking HERE.

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This summer, Jarrett will also be hosting a three-week “course” for adults interested in developing their drawing and illustration skills.

Here’s how this summer’s Creator Club: Adult Edition will work . . .

Each week’s session will run approximately 90 minutes. The first part of each week’s session will be the “lesson” portion, which, depending on the week, will run between 60 and 75 minutes. The remainder of the session will be left open for Q&A, so that Jarrett can make sure to address and teach about aspects of any given topic that attendees are particularly interested in. If questions are not forthcoming, Jarrett will fill the remainder of any given session with additional instruction, extra tips, and individual and/or group exercises.

To learn more about the particular sessions Jarrett is offering during this summer’s course, see below.

Creator Club: Adult Edition (Summer 2023)

Week 1: Drawing – Basics and Beyond

In this first session, Jarrett will share a variety of techniques that can be used to draw anything and everything. Whether an attendee has never attempted to draw before, or is someone who loves it and does it regularly, the material presented will be applicable – it will either serve as a foundation from which one can further develop their skills and style, or as a new collection of strategies and exercises to assist one on their ongoing drawing journey. Jarrett will also share methods for more productive practicing, and will begin to address the topic of drawing, specifically, for children’s books.

Week 2: Digital Illustration

In this second session, Jarrett will give a crash course in digital art, sharing a variety of tips, techniques, strategies, and methods for productively and powerfully using digital drawing platforms (such as the relatively affordable Procreate, as well as other, similar ones). Jarrett will also expand upon the topic of drawing, specifically, for children’s books (begun during Week 1), and will also discuss preparing art for submission – either to agencies or publishers.

Week 3: Extended, Open Q&A

This third final session will be an extended Q&A (it will likely run longer than 90 minutes) to ensure that Jarrett addresses topics, issues, and questions that attendees are interested in learning more about. Whether you want extra insight into a drawing or illustration technique that was previously shared, would like more information about the publishing process, or are looking for advice about the current children’s book marketplace, this is the time to ask! (Attendees who are not able to attend this session live will have an opportunity to submit their questions in advance.)

PRICE (INCLUDING ACCESS TO ALL THREE SESSIONS, PLUS ASSOCIATED BONUS CONTENT: $125 (US). Once an attendee has signed up, an invoice will be sent to the email address supplied in the below registration form.

START TIME OF ALL THREE SESSIONS: Tuesdays at 8 pm EST (on July 11, July 18, and July 25). Sessions will be held on Zoom. Links to join each session will be sent out each week, either on Monday night or Tuesday morning, to the email address supplied in the below registration form.

NOTE ON RECORDINGS: All sessions will be LIVE, meaning attendees can interact with Jarrett in real time, and also have the chance to ask their questions and share their thoughts. However, all attendees will also have access to recordings of the sessions, should they be unable to attend one week or multiple weeks, or if they simply wish to tune into all of the sessions on their own time. These recordings will be available for a limited time only (for up to one week after each session), will be password protected, and will be prevented from being shared.