Kelly Light is the author and illustrator of the picture book Louise Loves Art. It is a story about the importance of creativity in all its forms. Louise loves art more than anything; it's her imagination on the outside. She is determined to create a masterpiece—her pièce de résistance! Create your own pièce de résistance on Sunday, March 8 from 3 to 5 PM as author and illustrator Kelly Light leads a one-day only workshop at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Ave., Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Admission is free and open to the public, but reservations are a must. Call 949-669-7793 x 20107 or email Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org for more information and to RSVP. This program is appropriate for ages 7 to 12.

Kelly will talk about the connections between cartoons and children’s books. How she used what she learned in animation to write and create characters that may be still on the page, but alive to the reader. How acting with your pencil can put personality into your drawings.

Together, doing drawing exercises with character prompts, the children can create a character of their own and a short story board to start them on their own creative journey.

Kelly Light also loves art, especially cartoons. Growing up she loved watching cartoons and drawing cartoon characters. She went off to art school determined to start a career in animation which lead to working as a character artist for cartoon licensing. She spent a very long time drawing some of the most beloved cartoon characters, including the characters created by her favorite artist of all time, Chuck Jones.

It was a chance meeting with Mr. Jones that sparked the desire to create her characters. Years later, Louise was created and published and is now a seven book series that hopes to inspire kids to be creative and pick up their own pencils and draw out their imaginations.

Louise Loves Art will be available for sale that day and Ms. Light has agreed to sign copies purchased at the Center.