Learn the basic elements, mechanics and terminology of comics, and what defines the medium of sequential art.
And we start a regular comics practice by beginning a daily journal sketch comic.
For the first weeks they will be in the form of three panel Haikus. Comics are language, a form of writing, and the only way we get good at it is by doing it as often as we can! The constraints give us focus, and fewer decisions to make. And they can be fun.

We’ll start by checking in on how the first weeks daily journal sketch comics are going,
Then discuss the basics of how to build a story arc, have an introduction to plotting and scripting conventions for comics, tools for honing in on what is important in a story and how to use process to build a story, and keep moving forward when faced with creative blocks.
We’ll also talk about page flow, design & thumbnailing.

We’ll start by checking in on how the weeks daily journal sketch comics are going,
Our weekly comics practice expands to 5 panels after this, and switches for two weeks to the Tanka Constraint. Part of the change will be to explore in greater detail the process of designing comics pages.
We’ll have a demo of inking with a brush, pigment pens and different styles of finishing your art. Talk a bit about cartooning, drawing styles and character design.
And explore choosing the moment with a group exercise in class called ‘The Wrong Astronaut’.

We’ll start by checking in on how the first week of Tanka based journal sketch comics are going, Have any themes to your stories started to show up? If not, consider thinking about finding one?
Continuation of process study, focusing on digital tools for lettering, colouring, and processing your art. From how to scan pages, making “Blue lines” for inking and preparing art for colouring & print.
How to letter your comics digitally, or analog, while ensuring your text is readable. Balloon placement, working that into the page flow, and more. How to prep them when you’re done for printing or the web.
You don’t have to be able to use a computer to make comics, but like most things, it helps.

We’ll start by checking in on how the second week of Tanka based journal sketch comics are going.
For the next week’s comics, we’ll switch to using the Sonnet as our writing constraint – one for the week or one per day if students like. And take on a drawing constraint suggested by a fellow student as well!
Then the class will have an introduction to some advanced analog processes and techniques, for those who would rather not use a computer. How to use light tables and photocopiers to size up your work and do iterations for inking, revisions and repetition [callbacks].
Hand lettering, paste up and panel replacement. White paints best for corrections, and maintaining aspect ratios for print or the web.

We’ll start by checking in on how the second week of Sonnet based journal sketch comics are going! Can they be sung? We’ll talk a bit about the challenges of public reading too.
We’ll look at Comic Jams, collaboration and teamwork in the comics community. You can make comics on your own, but it helps to team up for big projects, and community will be your greatest resource. But even if you rather work alone, social drawing events are great gateways to new ideas and networking.

We’ll start by checking in on how the second week of Sonnet based journal sketch comics are going! This week we’ll also pick a new constraint for the remaining Journal comics based on the work so far and some other constraints options such as Oubapo.
Then the class will have an overview of the current state of the Art in self-publishing, the business of comics, financing, social networking and building a brand. It’s a big topic but we’ll cover the things you need to know starting out.

Again we’ll look at each other’s journal comics, check out and share thoughts on the constraints we choose.
Exercises in Style workshop 1. We’ll take a simple narrative sequence, and explore several different constraint based ways to depict the same events during the Exercises in Style.

Exercises in Style workshop 2. We’ll take a simple narrative sequence, and explore several different constraint based ways to depict the same events during the Exercises in Style.
One of the constraints for this class will be to work in a different drawing style, of an author chosen the week before.

At the start of the class we’ll have our final group critique of each other’s journal comics, and along with other comics exercises we’ve done in the course we’ll collect them for Anthology!

And this is the 3rd Exercises in Style workshop. Again one last time, we’ll take a simple narrative sequence, and explore different constraint based ways to depict them. This time. the class will be directed by Constraints suggested by your fellow students!