Summer 2019 Making Comics Class

I'm offering another round of Making Comics, my six week comic class through Nashville Community Ed, this Summer.  This one is special- I've listened to your requests, and am offering Making Comics at a special timeslot more accessible to teens and younger artists.

Making Comics is an affordable art class for all ages offered through Nashville Community Education.  For $69, you receive six weeks of comic instruction that covers everything from writing your comic story to basic figure drawing, creating backgrounds, laying out and assembling your comics, and ending with a zine exchange!

This is a great opportunity to get started on your own comic project or a great summer class for an arty teenager!  Each class runs for 2 hours, allowing for plenty of individualized critique and encouragement.

• It's $69 for all six classes (so about $10 and some change per class) 
• Classes is 2-4PM  on Tuesdays at the Cohn School in Room 112
• Classes begin July 9th and end August 13th  
• Class ends with a minicomic and zine exchange.
• You can register through Nashville Community Ed here.
• NCE now has scholarships available!  Learn more
• Anyone 16 and older can take the class with parental consent, anyone 13 and older can take class if a parent is also registered for Making Comics.

Making Comics 2019 Student Zines

If you've always wanted to learn how to make your own comics, or are interested in learning more about visual storytelling, Making Comics is a perfect introductory course designed to get you producing comics.  

Over six weeks, you'll learn

• Scripting
• Planning and Designing Characters
• Environments
• Drawing within the panel
• The Comic Production Process
• Traditional Inking Techniques
• Assembling your printed comic into a mini

For students interested in a deeper dive, there are additional materials for the course from the instructor available online via blog posts and Youtube videos.

In past classes, Nashville Community Ed has provided

• Sketchbooks
• Mechanical Pencils
• Red and Blue leads
• Graphite leads
• Bristol board
• Technical Pens
• Brushpens

for students to use to make their own comics and zines.

I augmented this by bringing in loads of amazing art resources- zines, comics, how to draw reference books, printing out student bluelines, providing ink, brushes, and nibs during our inking demonstration, as well as laying out and printing minicomics and zines for the zine exchange. For Making Comics, I hope to offer the same range of materials and hope to improve the overall class experience by spending more time on demonstration, less time on explanation. For students interested in a deeper dive, I have resource lists, art books, and tutorials on hand to augment each class.

During this class we’re going to cover:

• Storytelling and plot pacing
• Scripting
• Basic Human Anatomy for cartooning
• An Introduction to perspective for backgrounds and environments
• An Exploration of traditional inking materials

Students will have the opportunity to plot, plan, write, draw, ink, and assemble their own mini-comics and zines using materials provided by Nashville Community Ed, myself, or their personal tools of choice.

Even if you're already making comics, this class provides an excellent opportunity to meet other comic artists, create comics in a friendly setting, hone your skills, and seek critique.   Feel free to work at your own pace in a welcoming environment, or work along with the structure of the class.

Ok, so what can I expect?

• Basic class materials- pencils, paper, pens- will be provided for you, but you're welcome to use whatever you're comfortable with!  
• Instructor will provide brushes, nibs, inks, and various papers for students to experiment with
• Expect to produce 8 pages of content- either a comic, a zine, or a combination of the two.  More is great, but we're aiming for 8 pages.
• Expect to keep a sketchbook during class
• Be prepared to share your work in class and online for feedback and comic/resource recommendations (if you are not comfortable doing this, please let me know.  You're still welcome, I'll just make a note not to ask you to share your work in class)
• Access to a large library of zines, comics, and art resource books available to borrow
• Instructor (me!) will handle printing materials, so you don't need access to a printer, but access to a scanner will be helpful.  No scanner?  Let me know- we can arrange something
• Class ends with a Zine exchange- myself and NCE are still discussing how we'd like to handle our THIRD! zine exchange together.
• Join the Nashville comic/zine community- students stay in contact after class has ended

The Zine Exchange

Zine Exchange, Spring 2019, hosted by The Groove

After our six weeks together, we celebrate all the hard work with a Zine Exchange!  Every semester, we've done something special to celebrate completing our zines and minicomics.  Every student who completes a zine or minicomic will receive copies to exchange with their classmates and take home to share!  Friends and family are encouraged to attend and help us celebrate!  

Not an artist?  Fear not--this class is geared to be useful for beginners as well as more experienced artists.  If you need additional help or resources, I’m available via email during the semester, and there’s a Facebook group to facilitate critique and growth during and even after class. Classes are recorded and uploaded to Youtube, then shared with students after class, in case anyone missed class, or missed some of the material covered.

About Me

I hold an MFA in comics from SCAD, have almost a decade of experience teaching comics in classes, workshops, panels, over Youtube, and through my blog, have made comics for over two decades, and have work in nearly a dozen anthologies.  I've self-published the first volume of my watercolor comic, self-distributed it, released it as a webcomic, and am working on finishing up the second volume for a Kickstarter release, and make new zines every year as part of my Inktober project. You might know me from Nashville-area comic cons such as MTAC, Handmade and Bound, or some of the local library shows.  I've taught comic workshops all over the country, and hope to continue to share my love and enthusiasm for this medium with Nashville.

My work:

7" Kara- my watercolor webcomic

Professional Portfolio

Youtube channel

This class is a continuation of Making Comics and Making Comics and Zines, classes offered through Nashville Community Ed in the past. If you're interested in viewing last semester's class materials, or have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me via email. Registration for Making Comics is still open!

Low on funds but want to apply?  NCE has scholarships available!