In this 6-week workshop, 3rd - 6th grade students will create their own comics and contribute to a class Anthology Comic they take home. Along the way, they'll learn the essentials of storytelling, character development, and personal style with activities covering visual communication, art fundamentals, and creative confidence. The workshop culminates in a book reveal where students print, bind, and sign each other's anthology comics. Whether your child is into Marvel, Babysitters Club, Dog Man, Wings of Fire, or manga, this is a place for them to level up their understanding of comics and how to make their own.

Week 1

Lesson: What are comics, how are they made, and what makes sequential art work? We'll look at favorites and talk about how pictures and panels tell stories
Activity: Minicomics - Create a character and in 6 panels/pages tell a story with them! Take home the 8 page minicomic that they make.

Week 2

Lesson: How does drawing style complement or juxtapose against the story you are telling? We'll pick apart our favorite artists and why they work with their respective titles.
Activity: Quanto Comics - A collaborative game where students explore their style with classmates and come home with two comics they made together.

Week 3

Lesson: What is story and how do you tell a good one? We'll explore narrative structure and how comics balance words, pictures, and pacing to pull a reader through the page.
Activity: Story Workshop - Students will brainstorm and outline their final project story. Through discussion, they will develop and refine their ideas for the final project.

Week 4

Lesson: How do you translate a story into pictures? We'll talk about thumbnailing, panel layouts, and composition, how to plan a page before you draw it.
Activity: Final Project Part 1 - Armed with their story outlines from last week, students will thumbnail and pencil their final project pages.

Week 5

Lesson: Inking and finishing final projects. We'll talk about the difference between pencils and inks and why comics artists ink their work.
Activity: Final Project Part 2 - Students will ink and complete their final project pages. Final pages are due at the end of class.

Week 6

Lesson: How are comics printed and published? We'll talk about DIY printing techniques and what it means to make a zine or self-published comic.
Activity: Students will print and saddle stitch bind the class Anthology together. The session closes with a book reveal where students sign each other's Anthology Comics.