Learn how to turn your friend’s portrait into a typographic tribute they’ll treasure forever. Join my free 'Neon Neighbour' workshop for 12-16year olds, part of City of Gold Coast and Everybody NOW!'s entertainment program.

Please bring an A4 picture of your friend’s face and 18-20 attributes to transform into a colourful illustration.

Thursday 19 November 2026, 3:30-6:30pm
Helensvale Cultural Centre. Book HERE

Read more about the design process

This half-day workshop guides people to explore an issue they care about and transform it into expressive lettering or illustrative artwork. We tap into individual expression to create purposeful advocacy outcomes.

This is a participatory space for making meaning together. Participants can use a multitude of digital and tactile media to create art that’s designed to be seen, and will leave with a repeatable advocacy framework.

Want to take your small letters from the printed page to a painted wall? This workshop teaches how to project, prime and paint large-scale lettering with a background, drop shadow and highlights.

You’ll learn to mural a wall space or large A2 plywood panel with your unique layout, and be confident to add illustrations resulting in a dynamic design. Includes instruction sheets for continued practice at home.

Learn the gliding action and delicate nature of paint, water and brush. We begin with warm up drills using a water brush pen, moving on to lowercase and uppercase letters. You’ll have a clear understanding of thicks and thins, when to reload your brush, and how to achieve a gorgeous gradient effect.

By the end of the workshop, you will be confident to write your favourite quote, or create a larger design incorporating illustrations alongside. Includes instruction sheets for your continued practice at home.

Design your first ambigram and learn to see words upside-down and from different perspectives. You will begin by experimenting on worksheets with shorter words and palindromes, then extending ascenders and descenders before moving on to your final chosen word.

By the end of the workshop, you will be confident to design more ambigrams to add to your collection. Includes instruction sheets for continued practice at home.

Imagine how special your party or event will be knowing you’ve designed the signage yourself. From staining the timber to laying out the lettering and sketching the final design, this workshop is an introduction to adding personalised lettering to your special event.

Using the invisible frame technique and dustless chalk, you will transfer your design then complete it with acrylic paint. By the end of the class, you will have a finished piece as well as all the instructions and techniques to complete additional signage at home.

Transform a static image into a multi-layer stencil using Photoshop and spray paint. You will prepare three stencils with a box cutter and cutting mat, then spray each layer to produce your finished A4 design.

Materials to keep are your cut stencils and instruction handout. Materials for use during class are spray paint, gloves and masks.

Double pencil lettering is ideal for beginners. It teaches much about pen pressure, slope, stroke and counter width, and gives you the confidence to try dip nib or broad edged pens.

After learning the double pencil technique, you will transform your design with personalised embellishments and have the confidence to replicate the same at home. All it takes is two pencils!