All New Curriculum!! Tons of hands-on exercises help you learn the basics of cartoon strip and panel development. We will create characters, add expressions, learn how to draw strip and panel cartoons, learn inking techniques and hone our humor and creativity! All the while we’ll be learning a little about cartoon culture and application both here and in other countries. If you have attended this class already, you are welcome to return. All second year cartoonists will be given a more in-depth project to work on and develop throughout the week.

This camp has all new curriculum as well! CoManGra helps both beginners and talented artists hone their graphic ability and story telling skills. We highlight a number of techniques throughout the week on the way to creating a collective graphic novel. We will work specifically on comic book style, manga style and basic graphic novel style. For students who’ve taken this class previously, if you’re interested in coming back, there will be advanced exercises and a separate project that you will work on while the new students learn the basics.

Small Talk is an excellent program for helping youngsters get in touch with languages at an age where it makes the biggest difference! Campers will be exposed to Spanish, French and Chinese, encouraging them toward future language learning. Visual, tactile and auditory exercises put campers in touch with each culture and allow them to see which language they prefer. This camp prepares them to move forward more seriously with the language of their choice...indispensable in today's small world!

(Grandville   June 28-July 2   9AM to Noon)

In a word...ROCKETS! But this camp is so much more. Learn how airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons and birds overcome the force of gravity and soar in the skies. Each unique method helps campers understand different physical and chemical relationships in nature. Our study of the physics of flight will culminate in a rocket launching on the last day. Parents are welcome to come watch!

Can't decide what area of science interests you the most? Then waiter, bring us a little of everything!! This sample platter will introduce you to chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, botany, geology and more. This course is a perfect taste test that whets campers' appetites for more science in the future! This course has a pending field trip to a veterinary clinic (to be confirmed as we approach the camp date).

We may not be saving the universe, but learning about machines, forces and motion as well as engineering multiple functions into our own cool creations is a close second. How do things work and work together? We'll find out. And who knows, with budding mechanical, engineering and physics understanding at this age, one of these campers may just save the world one day!


Renewable Energy Technology
Grades 6-8   $100
(Grandville   June28-July 2   1PM to 4PM)

Camp Contact Info:
Info@Googenius.com
Tel. 616-796-4471

Visual Project Rate_________$50/hr

Cartoon Learning Sessions (See List)
  Elementary School________$50/hr
  Middle School____________$60/hr
  High School______________$75/hr
  Professional Devel.____$500/day**

Caricature Event___________$50/hr


 **Plus travel and materials expenses.


Click here for more information on visual curriculum development, available cartoon sessions and our professional development workshop.

T-Shirt Design 2010

Visual Curriculum

Coming Soon

Grandville Camp Location:
High School
3750 Ivanrest Ave SW
Grandville, MI
MapQuest

Hope College Camp Location: Schaap Center
35 E. 12th St.
Holland, MI
MapQuest

Press & Links

•Googenius/Hope Camps Article

Camp Photo Gallery

Googenius conducts hands-on workshops and sessions ranging from elementary level all the way up to high school and college workshops, we even work with teachers to apply visual thinking techniques to lesson plan development. We have engaging presentations and developmental drawing exercises for every age group. All classes focus on the right-brain & left-brain integration and honing your visual apparatus for academic use.

For younger students we use cartoons to teach clear communication through drawing, writing and idea development.

For older students we teach how to use our mind's eye to envision, clarify and visually lay out information we receive from various sources, increasing mastery of that information. We also integrate and promote international cartoon history and culture (social and political) as a means of understanding the world we live in.

For teachers we provide the basic tools for seeing and sharing visual priorities with students.

Student presentations are adaptable from 55 minute sessions up to full school days or multiple day workshops depending on your program needs. Professional development workshops are full day engagements (six hours of content).

Curriculum: If you rather we illustrate your lesson plan visually, send us an email of what you need and we'll send you a quote. Our general rates are $50/hour or $100/page, but we will work with anyone to make visual curriculum affordable.

By learning to lead students through their lesson visually, educators offer their classes a more intuitive approach to academics and can more easily assess where a learning objective is breaking down. Even if teachers "can't draw" they'll come away with the tools to communicate their message visually and effectively. The day is broken into progressive visual skills applications and ends with the development of a simple, but complete lesson plan.

     This truly is a class for all ages. By giving students the basics they need to start drawing and thinking visually, and then encouraging their improvement, we plant the roots for future right-brain development and bigger-picture understandings. Based on all the latest research, we believe the simple act of drawing helps integrate our brain's hemispheres and paves the way to better understanding and communication...what better way to encourage future success in our students and influence the world in a positive way. The best part...students think cartooning courses are just plain FUN!

     What is cartooning but visual thinking and representation? It can be applied to anything. We have an amazing visual apparatus that deals with over 2 million pieces of information a second. By understanding how it works and how to apply it to their own learning, students can add a dimension of understanding to any subject area. We can adapt our courses and exercises to help students think comprehensively about any lesson. Literature, social studies, math, English...you name it! Give us two weeks advance preparation time, we will come up with a session that brings all of your important concepts together in one project that your students will remember and be able to apply to all of their studies for the rest of their lives.

     It's amazing what cartoons can teach about history and the way people viewed the world centuries ago. They help lend an understanding of cultural differences as well. Since the 1700s cartoons have been a powerful influence on, and a dependable barometer of, public sentiment. This class delves into past and present points of view through the eyes and pencils of some of the best political and social cartoonists in Europe and America. We strive to stimulate even the most disinterested students to look at history, politics and culture with renewed interest. Depending on session length, the students can try their hand at illustrating a political or social cartoon...a great exercise to hone in on the important information within an historical/political context, and express that visually in a way that others can understand. This class is a great way to inspire students to start thinking tangibly in a global context.

     While students are first being introduced to foreign languages is the perfect time to introduce them to foreign graphic literature. These books allow them to experience conversation and stories that go beyond grammar and vocabulary. Pictures help students to understand the language in context and encourage them to spend time with the language. Googenius classes acquaint students with appropriate foreign titles, the value of reading foreign graphic stories and how to make the most of understanding and applying what they read.
School Program Prices Above on Right (Next to the Camp Descriptions)

     Within the course of a full day seminar or multiple day installments, a single group can learn all the necessary techniques to visually represent a complete story concept. We have stories for all ages with individual frame instructions and important communication design elements. This is the perfect course to integrate right-brain synthesis and left-brain analysis in a enjoyable way. When students start thinking this way, it changes how they approach learning for the rest of their lives!

At Googenius, we'll be the first to admit that a continued paradigm shift in information is inevitable, and we understand that traditional black-and-white literature as the primary means of idea transmission (like poetry in the 1800's) will probably go the way of the dinosaur. And while that alone is not such a horrible reality as long as people are getting the information anyway, where we see a growing problem is in our ability to evaluate, retain and apply that information. Those skills are diminishing and we believe that has to do primarily with the fact that we read and concentrate less.

You see, reading does amazing things in our brain, it fixes information in our minds and helps develop our ability to focus. We believe these are important skills for a society to have. Time spent reading correlates directly to increased positive social behavior in every measurable area...even exercise. And reading, in many ways, makes the information we input "our own". Cartoon literature can help put complex ideas in concise terms...encouraging readers to grasp full concepts quickly and enjoyably...making them their own. Whether we're talking education, business or entertainment, that's a perfect bridge between the old and the new ways of acquiring information.

Reading and following a visual narrative engages your mind in the assimilation of a message and helps develop your ability to evaluate concepts and weigh opinions as well as synthesize information into a "bigger-picture" understanding. Those intuitive, innovative, synthetic qualities are known as right-brain aptitudes. And they're becoming more and more important in today's global society and global economy.

Thinkers who develop their right-brain capacity on top of a traditional left-brain education relate to co-workers and employees better, they spot trends better and they foresee the consequences of certain courses of action better...in short, they've developed a finer intuition for evaluating the world around them. And that puts them at a decided advantage.

We want to help everyone develop that advantage, and cartooning is the perfect place to start. In fact, it might just be the perfect right-left brain discipline. The great part about cartooning is that it is accessible to all ages, and whether you're reading cartoon narratives or practicing cartooning techniques, you're developing brain-integrating aptitudes! There are so many other positive side effects of delving into cartoon history and cartoon culture that  we at Googenius think they're a communication home run.

Cartoons can put you in better touch with the world, with history and even with yourself. They truly are pure genius! The first step to innovation and outside-the-box thinking is to master and incorporate the important parts of inside-the-box thinking. Our goal is to help the world get in better touch with the amazing capacity of cartoons!