Comic Book Creations Club

Explore the world of comic book art as you learn how to tell fantastic stories through hand-drawn comics. Create a new comic or continue an on-going one we learn about a new comic arts or story-telling technique every week! 

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First, students will introduce themselves and share about their favorite comic-- Peanuts and Charlie Brown, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, the Babysitter's Club, Marvel and DC universe superheroes like Superman and X-men, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dogman, shoujo and shonen manga, and graphic novels, etc. 

Then I will introduce the topic of the day: a new idea for story-telling, drawing concept, or an example artwork from comic books or related pictures from art history. Many of the ideas and techniques discussed in this class are inspired by Scott McCloud's books "Understanding Comics" and "Making Comics."

Students will spend the rest of the class creating their own new, unique comic or continuing to work on a comic they previously started. For students who "don't have any ideas," I use a random story generator help students brainstorm creative story-writing. 

As students are working, I will check in with them and assist. Students will have the opportunity to share their work throughout the class and post their works in the classroom forum.

My goal is to create a fun, creative learning environment where students can comfortably learn and share their ideas with others who also love comics. Students will bring their imagination to life, invent unique characters and stories, and have the opportunity to share their art with other students. This class is great place for aspiring authors, comic artists, and game developers to create characters, illustrate their backstory, and develop a style.

Tentative topic schedule:
Week of 3/17: Mixed Genre Stories (Cowboys... in space???)
Week of 3/24:  Drawing bodies: American Cartoons & Japanese Manga Styles
Week of 3/31: Mixed media comics: the Art of David Mack
Week of 4/7: Scene-to-scene Transitions
Week of 4/14: New spin on an old story (The story of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, King Arthur's horse, etc.)
Week of 4/21: Humor and the one-panel comic
Week of 4/28: The Hero Archetype and Superheroes
Week of 5/5:  Panel-to-panel Transitions: Comparing American Comics & Japanese Manga
Week of 5/12: Facial Expressions & Emotion
Week of 5/19: Character Design: Using shape and color
Week of 5/26: Genre: Categorizing Contemporary Stories (Dogman, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Pokemon, Spiderman, etc.)
Week of 6/2: Exaggeration and non-sequiturs
Week of 6/9: Word art and word bubbles
Week of 6/16:  Subject-to-subject Transitions
Week of 6/23: Ordering the panels, a look at different cultures in Art History
Week of 6/30: The Setting: how to draw characters in a place
Week of 7/7: 3 panels, One Action
Week of 7/14: World-creation: Mars, the mall, or life at home?
** This schedule will repeat.**