WQED Education Presents Cartoon Academy with Joe Wos
Digital and Broadcast Part of WQED’s Learning At Home Initiative
PITTSBURGH – WQED Education expands its offerings to students, parents and teachers with an innovative and fun project – cartooning. This educational video series was created in collaboration with WQED Education and WQED Production to support the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s “Learning at Home” initiative.
Renowned Pittsburgh cartoonist Joe Wos takes students of all ages (and the young at-heart) through the creative steps of drawing cartoon characters, while sharing educational facts on the cartoon subjects. He’ll also teach a few artistic terms during each online lesson.
The videos will be released digitally on February 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, and 24 on WQED’s YouTube channel and atwww.wqed.org/cartoonacademy. The entire series of six videos will air on the WQED Showcase Channel education block on Thursday, February 25 at 3:00 pm and will rebroadcast every two weeks at the same time.
The six-to-nine-minute videos will be produced in chapter clusters of three, by topic, with episode one in the chapter being the most elementary, and the second and third being slightly more advanced. Each of the videos will have lesson plans, extension activities and coloring sheets to accompany them.
Program Descriptions:
Chapter 1: Down Under
Episode 101: Kangaroo and Joey, Too
Cartoonist Joe Wos takes viewers through the simple steps of drawing one of “Down Under’s” most popular denizens – a kangaroo and its baby, commonly known as a Joey. Students will also learn about adding background to an illustration.
Episode 102: Koala and a Kooky Kookaburra
Award-winning cartoonist, Joe Wos, takes to the trees of Australia where we learn to draw a Koala and Kookaburra.Students will also learn about using line to create the illusion of texture.
Episode 103: Platypus and Crocodile
Learn to draw one of the world’s most unusual animals, the platypus. Follow along step-by-step with cartoonist Joe Wos to create this unique Aussie mammal. He’ll draw in another Australian water creature, the crocodile. Students will also learn how similar features can be used to create completely different characters.
Chapter 2: Down on the Farm
Episode 104: Pig Out
Cartoonist Joe Wos teaches students how to draw a playful piggy and a delightful duck using easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Students will be familiarized with art terms such as “setting,” “symmetry” and “profile.”
Episode 105: Rooster on the Roof
High up on the barn roof, a rooster wakes up early and waits for someone to draw him. Cartoonist Joe Wos will teach students how to draw that barnyard alarm clock commonly called the rooster. Students will also learn about conveying emotions through facial expression.
Episode 106: Cow
Students will create a real scene at the farm. Incorporating a cow character, barn, and scenery, cartooning instructor Joe Wos will demonstrate how to pull together all the elements to set the stage. Students will also learn the basics of art composition.
WQED Education will announce a social media cartooning contest in early spring.
About Joe Wos
Joe Wos is an award-winning, internationally syndicated cartoonist. He has been working professionally as a cartoonist since the age of 14 and teaching cartooning for more than 30 years. Mr. Wos has performed with symphony orchestras, established a world record, and performed live at over 1,000 venues worldwide, including visits as the guest cartoonist of the Charles M. Schulz Museum for nearly 20 years.
About WQED
WQED was an experiment in educational community-supported television that was the forerunner to PBS. Today, WQED is a multimedia powerhouse that is as much a part of Pittsburgh as the three rivers. WQED is WQED-TV (PBS); WQED World; WQED Create; WQED Showcase; WQED PBS KIDS Channel; Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM) and online atwww.wqed.org/fm; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org) and WQED Education (www.wqed.org/edu).
