SPELLING SOUNDS Onomatopoeia.ย I remember this word being on my fourth grade spelling test. Who knows whether or not I actually got it right, but I do remember feeling its power. Six distinct syllables, a poem with steps, resolved with a mysterious clutch of open vowels. Onomatopoeia. It’s a term for a word that represents a…
Reposted from Brain Pickings ย Ray Bradbury, a lifelong proponent ofย working with joyย and an avidย champion of public libraries, playfully defies the question of routines in this 2010ย interview: “My passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life, and they have driven me there since I was twelve. So I never have to worry…
(Continued from Part 6: Making a Jam Comic) WE LOVE MAKING COMICS Comics have a language all their own. The unique combination of words and images make comics a broad medium, capable of telling all kinds of stories in all kinds of ways. I often give comics presentations to students and educators and am always…
(Continued from Part 3) REVIEW Ask the students which comics and books they read yesterday. Ask if they watched any movies or tv shows and if they were able to pick out signs of a three-act structure. It’s a big concept to take in at first, but once students are able to see the structure,…
(Continued fromย Part 2) REVIEW Ask the students if they did anything in their new sketchbooks between classes. Ask if any of the students would be willing to share what they’ve been writing or drawing and what they like about the sketchbooks. Take a few minutes to give each student the follow handouts (right-click on each…
(Continued from Part 1) HOW DOES A COMIC WORK? One of the big questions we are asking in class is “how does a comic work?” Of course we want to know what a comic is and how to make one, but we’re doing so from the inside-out. We’re taking it apart to understand it. For…
LEARN HOW TO MAKE COMICS | JUNE 10-14 Just a quick reminder that I’ll be teaching a 5 day comics workshop next week for children ages 13-18. Classes will be held atย Higher Ground Learningย in Salt Lake City, June 10-14, and will cover everything from generating and filtering story ideas to developing characters and story arcs,…
Sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury comments on his career and his sources of inspiration on Day at Night. “You can only go with loves in this life.”
GUEST AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS One of the great joys in my life is when I get to visit schools and libraries to talk with students about writing, drawing, and making comics. Iย loved it when guest authors and illustrators visited my schools! It was an education to see the creator’s work in person, and to be…