Children let their creative side show in a cartooning class with award-winning cartoonist and author Rick Stromoski on Thursday, June 26.

Held at C.H. Booth Library, the class had children ages 6-14 learn how to draw different cartoon animals using basic shapes and expressions. They drew a wide variety of animals, ranging from a cat, rabbit, and giraffe to a pig, panda, and shark.

Stromoski said transforming these animals into cartoons involves more repetition than people would think.

He taught everyone how basic shapes such as circles, triangles, and rectangles can be used to draw the same features on different animals. Drawing the same shape a little differently, he said, can help make each animal unique.

Circles can be used to draw big googly eyes for a friendly pig or narrow angry eyes for a short-tempered rat. Stromoski even taught everyone how to use lines and shapes to draw more complex features, such as using two sets of parallel lines and a three-leaf clover to draw paws.

Between wagging tails and shiny wet noses, Stromoski guided students in drawing every step of the way.

That said, he reassured everyone they do not have to draw exactly like him. Stromoski said he has seen a lot of children worry in lessons about their drawings looking different from his.

However, Stromoski does not want people to match how he draws; he wants to see how they draw. Whether their characters have bigger eyes or have a thick mustache, Stromoski said he wants children to interpret what he shows them.

“There’s no right or wrong way to draw,” Stromoski told everyone. “It’s just how you see the world.”

He also encouraged them to not worry about erasing or making mistakes. Sometimes when people make a mistake, Stromoski said it can be kind of cool and turn into something fun and exciting.

Children grabbed pens, pencils, or whatever else they wanted to draw with and sketched away. Parents and caretakers sat on the sidelines and smiled as their children quickly filled sheets of paper with animal drawings.

All the while, Stromoski was ready to step in at a moment’s notice and help someone if they needed it.

Not only could everyone take their drawings home once class ended, some of them could take the cartoons Stromoski made during class.

Since everyone could not get a drawing, as Stromoski only drew so many animals during class, he gave them his email and encouraged them to reach out if they wanted a drawing.

Stromoski also encouraged the children to keep digging into their imaginations and to stay creative. Whether it’s through drawing, playing musical instruments, or going to dance classes, Stromoski said “it’s important to be a creative” because it exercises the creative problem solving part of their brain.

The Joy Of Art And Teaching

Stromoski has been a professional cartoonist since 1983, when he sold his first cartoon for $7.50 and never cashed the check to keep it as a keepsake.

Now based in Connecticut, his work has appeared in books, national magazines, greeting cards, advertising, newspaper syndicated comic strips, network television, and more.

Stromoski has recently been working on the middle grade graphic novel series Schnozzer & Tatertoes, where two dogs who are best friends go on wacky adventures, from getting lost in the forest to accidentally traveling to the moon.

The class Stromoski taught at C.H. Booth Library is far from his first. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in early 2020, Stromoski said libraries were in dire need of programming.

He had an idea for a hands-on class over Zoom where he could teach children how to draw cartoons. Stromoski said each of his classes have had different themes, which include but are not limited to drawing ocean animals, sketching different expressions, and even creating silly superheroes.

Libraries were very enthusiastic about the classes, and Stromoski created a mailing list of every library in the United States. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stromoski thinks he taught over 400 online art classes.

His favorite part about teaching, Stromoski said, is seeing how kids interpret what he shows them.

“I think children are the best artists because they’re so raw and honest. You know, they just do it. They’re not inhibited yet, they just draw what they see or what they feel,” Stromoski explained.

When he sees the difference between what he draws and how children interpret it, Stromoski said it “blows his mind.” Trying to draw in that same honest, almost naïve observational way children do is difficult and hard to replicate, according to Stromoski.

He said it can be common for that love of creating to get beaten out of people.

Over the years, Stromoski said many adults have come up to him and gushed about how they loved to draw when they were younger, but gave it up. The reason many of them gave up, he said, is because they start to worry about what other people think of their art.

“[Creating] is a very personal expression of who you are, and most people don’t like to have that raw nerve be exposed because they’re afraid of criticism,” Stromoski said.

As a professional cartoonist, Stromoski said he has had to get past that because “you’re going to get rejected no matter what.”

The idea he tries with younger artists is not to get consensus, but to find the people that like their art. Stromoski always uses Taylor Swift as an example of a hugely successful artist who has just as many people, if not more, that do not like her art or music.

However, Stromoski said that has never stopped her from being a musician and pursuing what she wants. Comments such as “I don’t like this” or “that doesn’t look like that” can be commonplace with art, but Stromoski said he makes a point to tell kids there is no right or wrong way to draw.

“If you walk into a museum and all the art was exactly alike, that would be really boring,” Stromoski continued. “It’s the variety of the way people see the world is what makes art interesting.”

Being an artist himself, Stromoski said he tries to instill that love of creating in children and encourage them to keep their creative spark alive.

“I want kids to love to create. I want them to leave excited saying, ‘Oh boy, I can’t wait to go home and draw this again,’” Stromoski said. “If they leave having fun, then I did my job.”

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.