Invite one of Cara Bean’s workshops to your library, school, university, or organization!

In her workshops, Cara Bean emphasizes the therapeutic benefits of drawing, helping participants to relax, focus, and express themselves through drawing and comics. She provides practical techniques and exercises to develop drawing skills and boost creativity.​ Cara Bean’s purpose is to reduce stress, tap into creativity, and attend to the ideas of all participants. 

Workshops are most successful with 4-25 participants and can potentially run from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on context, age, and attention span of our group.

MATERIALS:

-copy paper and sharpened pencils

-Digital projector with HDMI computer cables OR ability to connect to Smartboard and project a PowerPoint presentation. *Cara usually travels with her own Mac laptop and dongle converter. If your school should use their laptop and just have her bring her presentation on a thumb drive, please let her know.

-A microphone/amplification system is appreciated for any groups larger than 30 participants. Especially if it’s in an auditorium, multi-purpose room, gym, etc

SPACE ACCOMMODATIONS:

-either table tops or clipboards with chairs for all participants

WORKSHOP FEES:
Library: $350 per workshop*
School: $500 per workshop*
University or Professional Group: $1,000 per workshop

*Travel/accommodation costs not included.

The Mindful Drawing Workshop is the most versatile and popular program!

Join a Mindful Doodling Workshop to experience firsthand how drawing leads to mindfulness. During this engaging workshop, we focus on bringing every participant into the creative process, even the reluctant ones. By honoring all drawing types and easing into our exercises, art educator and cartoonist Cara Bean shows how even the smallest marks on paper have a lot to teach us about expressing ourselves, feeling creative, and connecting to everyone around us.

This workshop offers:

-presentation about the mental benefits of doodling

-a guided mindful doodle session for relaxation

-line and shape improvisation

-simple character designs

-interconnected energy doodle

This workshop is suitable for family groups, ages 7+, teens, and adults.

Doodling Comics Workshop is a one session experience where we’ll talk about the ins and outs of the comics-making process through a series of fun, easy prompts. Cartoonist Cara Bean will offer prompts that will have you quickly filling panels with narration and imagery that will let your imagination come to life! 

This workshop offers:

-A presentation about the comics creation process

-A conversation about our favorite comics

-Inspiring comics prompts

-Worksheets for character design and page layout

-The satisfaction or completing a short comic

This workshop is suitable for ages 9+, teens, and adults.

Join us for Spooky Doodles, a playful drawing workshop where Halloween fun comes to life on the page! We'll explore eerie imagery, sketch silly monsters with big googly eyes, and invent surprising characters that pop out from your imagination. Whether you're drawing ghosts in roller skates or pumpkin-headed creatures with secret powers, this session is all about creativity, laughter, and a little bit of spooky magic.

This workshop offers:

-a slideshow about cartooning skills that increase spookiness

-an exercise of turning innocent food into wacky monsters.

-a creature challenge that begins googley eyes

-a haunted house display for our invented characters

This workshop is suitable for family groups, ages 7+, teens, and adults.

Doodling Secret Messages is a heartwarming workshop where tiny drawings carry big meaning. Participants create a series of increasingly small doodles, each paired with a special message to someone—or something—they care about, like a beloved friend, a pet, or a favorite place. These miniature illustrations become visual love notes, perfect for Valentine’s Day or any holiday where you want to express affection and gratitude. It’s a quiet, creative way to reflect on what matters most—and share it playfully.

This workshop offers:

-a slideshow about secret messages in art

-a series of doodling prompts

-an orgami demonstration

-a top secret special message to take home

This workshop is suitable for ages 9+, teens, and adults.

Doodling Insects is a playful workshop that blends art and science in a fun, approachable way. Participants observe the fascinating shapes, patterns, and movements of insects, then transform their discoveries into imaginative doodles. From fluttering wings to wiggly legs, each drawing celebrates the tiny wonders of the natural world. Along the way, we’ll learn cool facts about bugs and explore how curiosity and creativity can help us see science through a joyful, artistic lens.

This workshop offers:

-a slideshow about various insects

-drawing worksheets that help guide a study into a particular bug anatomy

-a pop-up book activity

This workshop is suitable for ages 7+.

This 4-week series will begin with an introduction to comics and basic drawing exercises. Kids will then choose characters, develop a storyline, and world-build, each based on skills acquired the week before. Cara walks participants through a series of creative exercises intended to lessen anxiety, build confidence, and grow creativity.

Shine a light onto mental wellness in your community with a library visit from author Cara Bean!  Learn about your brain and what goes into making her book, Here I Am, I Am Me: An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health. This visit is designed to inspire creativity, promote mental health awareness, and foster a love for drawing and storytelling among participants of all ages. 

Consider collaborating with your local bookstore and have Cara draw in / sign books for attendees.

(Keep in mind that the subject matter in Here I Am, I Am Me: An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health is reccommended for ages 12+.)

TESTIMONIALS:

“Cara has been an absolute pleasure to work with from the very beginning and her wonderful spirit and talent were shining so much! Our kids who all seemed very shy at first opened up to her and seemed to really enjoy themselves and their art.” —Cara Young, Children’s Librarian, Worcester Public Library

"I think the attendees left feeling really inspired and pumped to keep drawing."
— Meaghan Schwelm, Librarian, Adams Street Branch of the Boston Public Library

“Cara was so personable and encouraging with the participants. Overall, it was such an engaging and creative crowd-pleasing event.”
— Dianna McDevitt, Librarian, Hanson Public Library

“Great for all ages. Fun-filled using hands-on demonstrations.”
— Barbara Berler, President, Friends of the Jonathan Bourne Public Library

PREVIOUS WORKSHOP HOSTS:

An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Cafe, Plainville, MA

Athens Academy, Athen, GA

Atwater Library, North Branford, CT

Auk Bay Elementary School, Juneau, AK

Belmont Public Library, Belmont, MA

Blackhawk Middle School, Bensonville, IL

Boston Public Library, Adams Street Branch, Dorchester, MA

Boston Public Library, Faneuil Branch, Brighton, MA

Boston Public Library, Jamaica Plain Branch, MA

Boston Public Library, Lower Mills, Dorchester, MA

Boston Public Library, Mattapan Branch, Boston, MA

Bridges Homeward, Cambridge, MA

Cambridge Public Library, MA

Center for Cartoon Studies, White River Junction, VT

Chelmsford Public Library, Chelmsford MA

Comics and Medicine Conference, White River Junction, VT

Cromwell Belden Public Library, Cromwell, CT

Cumberland Public Library, Cumberland, RI

Darien Public Library, Darien, CT

DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA

Downtown Arts Festival, Gainesville, FL

Edith Wheeler Memorial Library, Monroe, CT

Electric City Comic Con, Schenectady County Public Library, NY 

Elizabeth Taber Library, Marion, MA

Falmouth Public Library, Falmouth, MA

Flushing Public Library, Queens, NY

Gleason Public Library, Carlisle, MA

Graphic Medicine Conference, Athlone, Ireland

Hanson Public Library, Hanson, MA

Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, MA

Haverhill Public Library, Haverhill, MA

Jonathan Bourne Library, Pocasset, MA

Kaiser Permanente, CA

Kitsap Regional Library, Bainbridge Island, WA

Lexington High School, Lexington, MA

Liminka School of Art, Limika, Finland

Mansfield Public Schools Professional Development, Mansfield, MA

Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo, Cambridge, MA

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Mattapoisett Public Library, Mattapoisett, MA

Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA

Milne Public Library, Williamstown, MA

Morrill Memorial Library, Norwood, MA

Munroe Center for the Arts, Lexington, MA 

National Cartoonists Society Conference, Boston, MA

New Bedford Public Schools, New Bedford, MA

New London Public Library, New London, CT

New Milford Public Library, New Milford, CT

North Adams Public Library, North Adams, MA

North Providence High School, North, Providence, RI

Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, Old Lyme, CN

Our Sisters’s School, New Bedford, MA

Plumb Memorial Library, Rochester, MA

Seattle Public Library (downtown), WA

Southwest Seattle Public Library, WA

Springfield Town Library, Springfield, VT

Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Tabor Academy, Marrion, MA

Thunder Mountain Middle School, Juneau, AK

University of Omaha, Omaha, NE

Wallingford Public Library, Wallingford, CT

Welles-Turner Memorial Library, Glastonbury, CT

Worcester Arts Magnet School, Worcester, MA

Worcester Public Library, Worcester, MA