On April 2nd 2016 I had fantastic fun running a range of comic drawing activities at OPEN Youth Trust in Norwich city centre as part of the annual BBC Get Creative Event.
The event was great – the Get Creative team even asked me to write a post of my top comic making tips for the BBC website so well worth the effort!
It went so well I’ll be back there this weekend (Saturday 23rd April) doing it all again as part of the Discover OPEN event.
So if you’re any where near the OPEN on Saturday between 1:30 and 3:30pm drop by and have a go. All ages welcome!
What made this event different from our usual comic workshops?
A normal Essential Sequential comic drawing workshop takes a group through the extraordinary process of creating a story and artwork for a comic – depending on the group this might take hours!
Because I only had 2 hours and participants may only dip in and out of the activities I needed to come up with things that someone might do for the whole 2 hours or just do for 10 minutes but still demonstrated some valuable comic making skills – a tall order!
This is what I came up with:
Design your own Super Hero
This proved very popular with younger comic lovers – they got to choose their male or female hero’s super power (and super weakness!) and then using a template draw their own fantastically costumed super hero.
Quick 3 panel comic strips
This activity used a cut-down version of the random story generator system I use in my full workshops to quickly develop a comic told over three panels.
Practice your inking
Inking is an often overlooked and underrated part of the comic creation process – I brought along with me a range of black and white art (some drawn, some photographic) that, with the aid of some tracing paper and pens, can be turned in fabulous inked artwork.
Ready made comic creation kit
Like the 3 panel comic strip, this activity allowed participants to quickly construct a comic story – but in this case they didn’t even have to do the drawing!
I supplied ready drawn panels of seemingly random characters and events to be cut out and stuck onto a template in whatever order makes sense to the creator. The result can then be inked using tracing paper to create an original piece of comic book art!
Want to experience a Comic Creation Workshop yourself?
If you’re interested in attending one of my Comic Creation Workshops, or are considering hosting one an at your organisation go ahead and get in touch!
All necessary checks, policies and insurances are in place to ensure safety when working with children and vulnerable adults.
Workshop running time, features and price can be configured to suit your organisation or groups needs.
