I’ve been a fan of Dave Stewart’s abilities for the last ten years, and it’s been fascinating to watch him tackle projects as varied as Hellboy, Sandman: Overture, Daytripper and now Craig Thompson’s Space Dumplins. I recently discovered the new comics interview show,ย From the Gutters, and was happy to find a two-part video interview with…
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…
While the committee are still working out the panels/presentations schedules, I’ve been invited to participate as a guest at the first Salt Lake Comic Con on September 5-7 at the Salt Palace Convention Center! ย Look–I even have a promotional image (this means it’s really happening): This is going to be an ENORMOUS event, packed with…
(Continued from Part 4: Brush and Ink) CHARACTER DESIGN There are countless ways of developing new characters. For this exercise, we’ll be working on faces.ย Ask students to draw a 9-panel grid in their sketchbooks and to draw a different abstract shape in each square. The shapes are not supposed to represent or look like anything…
The Alt Press Fest isย a one-day independent zine festival featuring artists and authors, music, demos and workshops, held at the Salt Lake City library, home to one of the largest zine collections in the world! The Alt Press Fest is a great way to meet local artists and authors, to load up on mini comics…
5 POINTS OF FOCUS Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to teach a class on making comics and graphic novels to a group of 13-16 year-olds. Teaching comics is not something new to me–over the last couple of years I’ve given nearly two dozen workshops on everything from writing for comics, to developing characters,…
This week I’ve been teaching a group of 13-16 year olds about making comics. We’ve talked about storytelling, writing, drawing, comics terms and forms, character development, perspective and page layout. It’s been a very busy week! IDEAS On Wednesday I gave a short presentation on how I made my graphic novel,ย Upside Down: A Vampire Tale,…
This week I’ve been teaching a 5-day workshop on making comics and our class has been having a blast learning about grid systems, writing, drawing, story structure and comics terminology. See if you can identify each part of a comic and find each comics term in the pages below. (Click on each image to view/print…
This week I’ll be teaching a 5-day workshop for teens on making comics. How cool is that?! I love working with teenagers because they have so many ideas and are willing to explore new areas and take risks. It was always a bit of a downer for me in college when my fellow art students…
HIC + HOC Matt Moses is making a big noise in the indie comics scene with his Hic + Hoc titles. The comics publisher has been making the rounds at various festivals and conventions, as well as book stores and comic shops for author and artist signings. Hic + Hoc makes everything they do all…