Make Art Your Own: Exploring Artistic Identity
A course by Gary BasemanArtist, Illustrator, and Animator
A course by Gary Baseman, Artist, Illustrator, and Animator
Define your unique visual language by connecting with your ideas, emotions, and life experiences in your sketchbook
For Gary Baseman, making art that’s truly your own begins by exploring what makes us unique. The life experiences that shape our perspectives are a potent source of artistic inspiration. Looking back, observing, and documenting all our experiences in our sketchbook is the ideal place to start.
Sketchbooks are where Gary begins his own creative process, before translating it into anything from collectible toy characters, retrospective exhibitions, and award-winning animation series like Teacher’s Pet. There doesn’t seem to be an artistic stone left unturned with Baseman. He has collaborated with fashion brands like Coach, Swatch, Dr Martens, and has been featured in countless magazines like TIME, Rolling Stone, and newspapers such as The New York Times.
In this course, Gary Baseman takes you on a one-way trip to revealing your unique visual language. Use your sketchbook as a vehicle for defining your artistic identity. Delve into your travels, heritage, childhood, and more to define the experiences that express who you are as an artist. Ready for take-off?
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 21 downloads
Relating Art and Life
8 minutes, 42 seconds
My Sketchbooks over Time
16 minutes, 36 seconds
Warming Up with Rituals
10 minutes, 26 seconds
Warming Up with Materials
20 minutes, 20 seconds
Warming Up, Creating Characters
20 minutes, 51 seconds
Looking Back (Childhood)
14 minutes, 27 seconds
What's included in this course?
Meet Gary Baseman and learn about his journey as an artist. See how his art grew from his childhood to his early career, to the present-day iconic artist he has become. Explore some of the artists that inspire and influence his work, in areas like animation, illustration, painting, and performance.
Discover how Gary makes art his own, as he shares his process of taking inspiration from a range of personal experiences. See how he developed his exhibition “The Door is Always Open”, and understand how he expressed the constant connection between his life and art. Learn how he transforms what he draws and records into art by taking a look inside his sketchbooks. Then, discover Gary’s rituals that help him stay focused and inspired. Get familiar with your materials with a warm-up exercise, before going through some drawing practice to loosen up and experiment with expressive lines, your drawing style, and more.
Delve deep into your life experiences to find artistic inspiration, and see how Gary’s childhood is reflected in his art. Look back on your own childhood to start ideating a series of characters that demonstrate your style and represent your unique personality. Gary then invites you to look inwards and reflect on your identity, values, interests, and more, to create a character that could be your alter-ego. Look out to the world and explore how travels and other cultures can also impact your art. Learn how to observe and absorb a place or culture to inspire a character drawing. Then, discover how to interpret your family heritage and history into your artwork. See how Gary finds inspiration from his own heritage with a drawing interpretation of a family photo.
Fuse all your sources of inspiration together into one drawing that reflects your unique artistic identity: your childhood, personal experiences, travels, and family heritage. Look over your work to further analyze what you have drawn, and consider some other ideas for further creative development. Then, hear Gary’s advice on how to stay connected and broaden your creative community on social media. See practical ways to extend your sketches into projects or different formats and finish with some tips on how to stay inspired.
What is this course's project?
Develop your artistic voice by exploring your life experiences through a series of drawing exercises in your sketchbook.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for beginning and professional visual artists who would like to reconnect with their life experiences and revitalize their art in a personal way to further develop their artistic voice.
Requirements and materials
Basic skills in drawing, painting, and photography will be helpful but not essential to take this course. All you need is a hunger for experimentation and an open mind for art-making.
As for materials, you will need a sketchbook and whatever art supplies you’d like to use.
Reviews
- 2 months ago
I am excited to take this course! I am a 66-year-old whose first memories are of drawing feverishly on any surface I could find. Starting at around 3-years old, I drew fantastical monster and animals non-stop. My parents encouraged me; my father's JAMA magazine used to come in a brown wrapper, and I would utilize each one whenever it came in. I remember thinking, even into my middle school years, that if I lost the use of my hands it would kill me. I want to get back to that artistic drive.
- 2 months ago
It is great to see behind the scenes of one of my favorite artists Gary Baseman, his processes and influences. It is a bit more like an interview and less like a class but I used each video as a basis for structuring my own approach for the class.
- 4 months ago
Inspiring course, sometimes feels a little bit like interview more than a practical course. But still for 6£ it’s okay. Sure not my favourite and useful but still good
- 6 months ago
I really enjoyed how Gary uses his influences and life experiences to create his art. Also it gave me a sense of what I do, how I create is okay because it is a reflection of me!
- 9 months ago
This course really expanded my awareness of my own inner universe and opened my eyes to new, exciting directions for my art! Great course: I'm retaking it, today!
After ten years in New York, he realized his creativity could go much further than the constraints of commercial illustration. He moved back to his hometown, Los Angeles, where he worked on pilots for animation. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Disney took notice and Teacher’s Pet became a worldwide success, earning him several Emmy and BAFTA awards. His first major exhibition was Dumb Luck and Other Paintings about Lack of Control at Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena (US) in 1999 which began his transition from commercial to fine art. His work challenges viewers to reflect on the meaning of life’s challenges and triumphs through horrific yet endearing characters and scenes. Character development is a prominent trait in his work, with which he develops collectible toys and figurines like Toby, Dumb Luck, ChouChou, Ahwroo, and Blackie the Cat. Gary’s fine art creations have been exhibited in countless renowned museums and galleries across the globe. He has received many awards for his work, including the reputable Art Directors Club award and has received the Fullbright and Sundance New Frontier Lab fellowships. His most recent projects include collaborations with COACH, Dr. Martens, and Lladro; a documentary film Mythical Creatures about his family heritage; and a creative collaboration with music artist Moby in the documentary Moby Doc.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
The Door Is Always Open
- Relating Art and Life
- My Sketchbooks over Time
- Warming Up with Rituals
- Warming Up with Materials
- Warming Up, Creating Characters
- U3
Finding Inspiration
- Looking Back (Childhood)
- Looking In (Personal Interests and Experiences)
- Looking Out (Travels and Other Cultures)
- Looking Deeper (Family and Heritage) 1
- Looking Deeper (Family and Heritage) 2
- U4
A World That Only You Can Create
- Creating Your World
- Staying Motivated
- FP
Final project
- Make Art Your Own: Exploring Artistic Identity
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for intermediate artists who want to deepen their character design abilities and creative process, especially using sketchbooks and mixed media techniques.
You'll need a sketchbook, colored pencils, acrylic paints, brush pens, markers, collage materials, glue stick, and found images or photographs. The course encourages experimentation with various portable and mixed media tools.
You’ll learn how to develop original characters, create artistic personas, experiment with visual language, and use symbolism, memory, and cultural influences to tell compelling visual stories.
Yes, the course focuses on using sketchbooks as a creative space for experimentation, idea development, and refining your personal artistic voice and style.
Absolutely. The course explores collage techniques, layering found images, using glue sticks, and integrating mixed media to enhance your sketchbook practice.
You’ll learn to experiment with forms, geometric shapes, and personal memories to develop unique character designs—exploring variations, symbolism, and narrative flexibility.
Yes, the course teaches you to incorporate cultural symbols, family heritage, and personal experiences into your visual narratives and character designs.