Wacom Creativity Camp is a free online character design workshop series happening this summer, presented by Wacom in partnership with Best Buy. It’s taught by MCAD professor Lafe Smith, and is perfect for young folks, beginning artists, or anyone else who wants to strengthen their character design skills. It’s free, and you don’t need any digital art tools to participate – pencil and paper is fine!
During this workshop series, you’ll learn the basics of how to create a character – including finding inspiration, sketching ideas, crafting silhouettes, and creating expressive faces and poses – and will end up with a complete model sheet for your original character! Throughout, you’ll also get expert feedback and support from a professional artist and art school professor. Click here to sign up!
We’re proud to be partnering with Best Buy as our preferred retail partner for Creativity Camp this year! Click here to check out everything Wacom on BestBuy.com.
Join us live on Zoom on Mondays, July 28 – August 18, 2025, from 3:00-4:30pm PDT!
Each session builds on the last, so if you attend every workshop you’ll have a completed character model sheet at the end. It’s OK if you can’t make it to every session, though – we’ll have recap materials and “homework” to get you caught up, and we’ll eventually publish recordings of the workshops on YouTube. One more reason to attend live, though: we’ll be giving way Wacom drawing tablets during each session, and only attendees are eligible!
About the presenter
Lafe Smith is the Director of the Master of Arts in Graphic and Web Design program at Minneapolis College of Art & Design.
He is also an illustrator focusing on visual storytelling, emphasizing the combination of traditional and digital techniques. Smith has worked as a commercial storyboard artist, retail in-store marketing illustrator, and product branding illustrator, among other endeavors. He has a long history as both an artist and educator, and has created and facilitated numerous online courses in Character Design.
Session 1: Finding inspiration, practicing gestures, & building your character’s story
July 28th from 3:00 – 4:30pm PDT / 6:00 – 7:30pm EDT
In this first session, we’ll discuss what makes a good character design, including the power of an evocative silhouette. We’ll practice one of the most important exercises in our toolbox – gesture drawing – to build toward dynamic poses and silhouettes. And we’ll think about what story we want our character to be a part of, and how their design can help tell that story. Click here to sign up!
Session 2: Using shape language, research & references, and an intro to model sheets
August 4th from 3:00 – 4:30pm PDT / 6:00 – 7:30pm EDT
In this session, we’ll build on the foundation of Session 1. We’ll discuss shape language, and we’ll dig into the importance of research and references, including using mood boards as creative compasses for our designs. We’ll also start thinking about model sheets, and begin putting together the building blocks of our original character. Click here to sign up!
Session 3: Design details, expressive faces & poses, and assembling your model sheet
August 11th from 3:00 – 4:30pm PDT / 6:00 – 7:30pm EDT
The third session really gets into the details and specifics of our character! We’ll focus on expressive faces and poses for our character, and think about how the details expand our storytelling, from overall colors to hair to clothing to accessories. We’ll also move toward finalizing our character model sheet. Click here to sign up!
Session 4: Final details, high-level professional feedback, and Q&A
August 18th from 3:00 – 4:30pm PDT / 6:00 – 7:30pm EDT
The main goal of this session is to finalize our model sheets – and then get feedback on what we’ve done! Submit your work for review, and Professor Smith will give you personalized (positive) feedback on what you’ve created so far in the workshop. We’ll also have an open Q&A with Professor Smith so he can give you advice or insight about anything you want to know. Click here to sign up!
