I just posted a whole bunch of weird and excellent comics done by School of Visual Arts cartooning majors over the last few years in a class of mine where I present them with a series of assignments based on creative rules or constraints.
I proposed a comics workshop to my university. I intend to teach students how to make comics and self-publish them, going from script to art to folding, stapling and selling their own comics. The only problem is, I’ve never done this before.
While I’m pretty decent at writing comics, when I started out writing prose fiction I had no idea what I was doing. Not only that, I didn’t particularly like doing it. On the other hand, I’ve had a number of students in comics classes who are prose writers first, and they all tend to hit certain sticking points. So here are a few observations about turning from comics to prose or vice versa.
Jessica’s 2002 strip, “What Is a “Graphic Novel?”” is a great tool for introducing comics into your classroom or library. here we have a print-quality PDF version of the strip, which you can use to print posters and handouts. There are black and white versions of the poster (11″ x 17″), and the handout (two Read More
My work focuses on the process of reading comic books, rather than on the readers. When I started down the path of focusing on reading, I encountered the false assumption that “anyone can read comic books.” Even people who did not consider themselves comic book readers thought they knew how. In teaching with comic books and graphic novels, I have found that I have had to teach many of my students the ins and outs of how to read comics.
One day a year, venues all over the globe (and online) sign up to host 24-hour comics marathons. This year, that day is October 2, or more precisely, October 2-October 3 (10 am to 10 am).
Hothouse student Lisa Anchin worked intensely this summer toward mastering the language of comics and visual clarity. The first run through of her thumbs felt slow and confusing, but Lisa showed total commitment to revision, as tough as it can be, and remade her story until it’s clear, compelling, downright exciting ride. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
James McMullan, a wonderful illustrator and poster designer who Matt calls the “guru” of figure drawing at SVA, launches a new 12-part series in the online version of the New York Times to encourage adults to return to their drawing roots.
