Shari Warren Teaches Art and Illustration

I have been teaching Graduate and Undergraduate Classes both onsite and online at the Academy of Art University (AAU) San Francisco as an Adjunct Faculty Instructor in the Illustration school from 2013 to present. 

My passion for teaching and mentoring students is to help them create portfolio worthy art and illustrations showing their personal best to attain their creative career goals. I structured my content, class activities and assignments based on my real-life career experience as a published and licensed commercial artist and illustrator, creating art collections for consumer retail products and children's books. I have written my class syllabus and curriculum, lesson plans, learning materials, student handouts and worksheets, assignments, grading rubrics, class activities and demonstrations.

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"My goal for all my classes is to provide a quality, creative, safe and fun learning environment for students of all ages. The students I have taught are culturally and internationally diverse and come from all over the world!"
Last day of class photo with my students at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA.
Yes, I always have a party (hence the food and drink in the photo) to celebrate my students hard work in
​combination with a fun group activity to reinforce concepts taught during the semester!

Classes I Have Taught:

Illustration for Consumer Products & Art Licensing
Introduction class to teach students the basic skills in researching retail market trends and create original art collections for licensing to market to companies who manufacture consumer products. Students also create a branded website to showcase their art collections portfolio.

Digital Painting 
Portfolio building class for beginning and advance students to learn the basics of the Adobe Photoshop, Fresco, and Procreate interfaces, tools and layers to create digital paintings with assignments including a greeting card, character in a scene environment, book cover, portrait painting, landscape/city scene, still life and a mobile game splash screen. 

Digital Photography Media Using Photoshop 
Introduction class to teach students the basic tools and features of Photoshop using their own photography to increase their storytelling skills using images and photo illustrations and collages.

Professional Business Practices for Illustrators 
Teach students to identify illustration styles and research possible companies for employment and freelance opportunities, including advertising, editorial, games and apps, children’s books, comics & graphic novels, visual development, products & art licensing. Students create a professional portfolio website, set up an art business, financial record keeping, and copyrights. 

Student Examples from Class: Illustration for Consumer Products & Art Licensing

I am so proud to show premium examples of my student's work from the portfolio assignments given to them throughout the semesters. Notice the range of art styles, unique to each student's interests and skills. Each of the students had to research the retail market for trends and popular themes and then create art collections and product mock-ups targeted to a demographic consumer of their choice.  All of the student art collection presentations are very professional and ready to submit to manufacturing companies for art licensing or create and sell their own products in their own store.

Student Examples from Class: Digital Painting

Premium examples of my student's digital painting for their portfolios with assignments that include a greeting card, character in a scene, environment, book cover, portrait painting, landscape/city scene, still life and a mobile game splash screen.