Design A City And Unleash Your Creativity…

Create Cities Of The Imagination…

Learn / Improve 3D Printing, 3D modelling, 3D animation, traditional drawing and much more by designing the imaginary city from your dreams or even nightmares!

Hi I’m James and I’ve always loved fantastical cities from movies, games, illustrations and other art forms. Architectonic forms still inspire me today as you can see with my artworks. I have been designing cities of the imagination from as long as I can remember and then one summer during my school holidays in the early 90s, I got home to find a game had been posted to me from a mail order computer games company. That game was the original SimCity on the Atari ST . Now, the graphics look dated but then. I can even remember the packaging. The little blips on the screen representing, zones, buildings and even traffic jams were awesome at the time as if life was happening behind the screen.

I know there are others out there like me, who love making imaginary cities…

The slideshow below shows you some of the things that go on in these workshops…

What On Earth Is This Workshop?

It will help you to design a city from your imagination and unleash your creativity. Depending on the tools at hand, you will be able to visualise your city using drawing, model making, 3d graphics, 3d printing, lasercutting and even VR world building.

My expertise with commercial clients since 1999 from entertainment companies, engineering, museums, my own art products, and also my tuition experience means that anything that you need to do to achieve your goal, I will find the solution for you at that moment with the design and fabrication tools at hand.

Over the last 6 years, I have carefully developed this workshop. It started off as a lesson in a Summer School I was working at. The students loved the lesson. I then went on to give this workshop at arts centres, FabLabs and Makerspaces, Maker Faires  in the UK, Iceland and Canada. Each time I do the workshop, I refine it and find ways to make it a little bit better each time. I have also just finished working in a FabLab for a one year contract so I have an expertise with a whole range of digital fabrication technologies.

Is It For Me?

All ages have attended this workshop. I have had children up to retired people attending the workshops discovering how they can unleash or improve their creativity and get more inspiration. All levels have attended and benefited from this workshop from people who have never drawn or used a computer before to designers and artists who have worked on major animated film productions. Contact me today if you have any questions about it.

Examples of people who benefit this workshop –

• Hobbyists and enthusiasts
• Science fiction and fantasy fans
• For young learners
• Continued Professional Development
• Parties, weddings and other events

Contact me to discuss… info@jamesabellart.com

What You Will Learn

You will be able to learn depending on the tools in the venue –

• Creativity (I believe this comes first, if you agree you will love this workshop!)
• Traditional Drawing
• 3D printing setup and use
• 3D modelling for 3D printing
• Blender
• 3ds Max
• Substance Painter
• Substance Designer
• Lasercutting
• Much more

I adapt solutions for each individual attendee and always keep the workshops small in numbers. I also teach one to one or in groups without the Cities Of The Imagination themes, customised to what you want. For example, learning 3D modelling for printing.

My Weekly Cities Of The Imagination Jam Sessions

Here is  a free playlist of a weekly YouTube “Jam session” making City “architectonic” forms and more. Don’t be put off if some of this feels a bit technical, my workshops are for all levels and you can just draw and make things with card if you dont want to use digital tools.  The aim is more about creativity first then using the tools at hand.

Testimonials

Past attendee reviews for the workshop –

“I enjoyed James’ course, finding it a quick way to get to grips with Blender. It was much more interesting and informative than trying to learn by myself, or through Youtube. I would recommend” 

“James’ approach to the software is very refreshing. Not only does he give us an understanding of the basic tools and features of the software but he also shows us how to put to use the essence of each software in order to fit into the development of our particular projects”

Maia at EchoFab Montreal

“Good introduction to Blender and an inspiring way to learn. An imaginative starting project for those who work best with goals rather than trawling through repetitive online tutorials. Very enjoyable, thank you!” 

Hannah, London giving feedback from The Design An Imaginary City Workshop at FabLab London, December 2015

How Much?

Depending on external funding and donations, I plan in the future to do many of these workshops as “freemium”, free or donation based. Please share this with anyone you know who might want to support these workshops, I really believe in helping people with free workshops who may not be able to afford to pay. Generally speaking the workshops are two or three hours and cost you £19 UK pounds for each person. I try not to have any more than 11 people in each workshop to give you the best quality possible.

Other tuition, one to one and custom tuition either online or onsite starts from £19 UK pounds.

What You Can Do Now?

If you are interested in creating an imaginary city, please subscribe to my e mail newsletter below or link up with me on twitter or e mail me at info@jamesabellart.com You will be notified about the next workshop. I will be taking these workshops around the UK, Europe and beyond in 2019.

You can also request for me to run a workshop if you are a creative centre organiser. I am particularly interested in hosting these workshops in FabLabs and Makerspaces so drop me a line if this is you!

I can host the workshops live online too.

Help Me To Help Others…

Help me to do these workshops for free or at a low price. I would love to do more workshops that are free or low priced so that learners of all ages who cannot afford to pay can attend and also unleash their creativity. I would love to get to the stage where I can sustain these workshops through donations and Patreon. Any donations here will go towards paying for venues, travel, materials etc. Thank you!

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks for taking the time to read this page,

James Abell.

P.s. if you can spare a minute or two, please answer this questionnaire to help me to constantly improve the workshop.

It is anonymous, I don’t ask for any of your contact details and it only takes about two minute, thank you! –

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CDLNN3H