Making Comics

This is a year-long course in making comics and sequential art for seventh and eighth graders. Students participate in individual and collaborative exercises to develop the skills and techniques used to combine pictures and words in graphic storytelling. We look closely at some of the most highly-regarded comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and manga as mentor texts to expand our understanding of this unique medium. We consider the work of a wide range of writers and artists to learn how each of them has found their own way to express themselves through comics. These activities serve to guide and inspire us as we discover what works best for each of us as comic creators. Each semester will build toward a culminating project demonstrating growth and deepening knowledge of the art form.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the purposes and effects of the key elements of a comic book page: titles, headings, speech and thought balloons, captions, sound effects, panels, gutters.

• Clearly communicate narratives through graphic storytelling that gradually increase in length, variety, and complexity.

• Practice the steps of comic production: generating story ideas, outlines, thumbnail sketches, panel and page layout, penciling, lettering, inking, coloring, and publishing.

• Develop skills in using the tools of the trade: pencils, black ink pens, art erasers, colored pencils, colored art pens, white correction pens, rulers & T-squares, compasses, stencils, lettering guides, blank comic pages, and large format bristol board.

• Produce digital sequential art using graphic design apps like Procreate and Photoshop.

• Use the comic art form as a means of self-discovery and self-expression.

Additional Equipment

• iPads (Procreate)

• iMacs (Photoshop)

• Drawing tablets

• Digital styluses 

• Lightboards (for tracing)

• Large-format scanner

• Large-format color printer