teaching

From Pixelfed: 2023-11-01T15:33:34.000Z

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This week in high school comics class: working on outlining and structuring our minicomic stories. The structure is there to support them when they’re stuck and for them to rebel against when they’re not.

P1: Introductions – We learn about the characters and setting

P2: Characters interact – We learn more about how the characters see themselves and each other, particularly through dialogue

P3: Conflict – Some kind of problem shows up

P4: Characters react to conflict – We learn more about the characters through their reaction to the conflict

P5: Twist – Some kind of surprise shows up–could be big, could be small

P6: Characters react to twist – We learn more about the characters through their reaction to the conflict

P7-P8: Resolution – I always think about this part as answering one of two questions: *How* is the world different, or *Why* is the world the same?

#teachingarts #comics #drawing #storytelling

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Teaching: the Tension Between the Arbitrary and the Algorithmic

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This snippet of a recent episode of the Emerge podcast does a terrific job of framing the adaptation that I think is necessary for a good experience in a classroom. Yes, I write lesson plans (that’s the algorithmic part), but I change the plan based on what the room needs in that moment (that’s the arbitrary part). Here’s the whole discussion:

I explore this artful way of planning and teaching in a webinar I led for the Ohio Arts Council back in 2020:

While this series of microcasts explores the adaptive, in-the-room quality of being a teaching artist. You can start with the episode below:

TPD 264 – Ways I talked myself out of teaching

Interested in something more interactive? I regularly offer training for teachers and teaching artists. Click here to find out more about how I can help inspire your students!

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Hooray for the OAC!

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And here’s the final word on my 2023 residency at Tri-Rivers Career Center! This was made possible by a grant from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). Over nine weeks I worked with the students to make their own minicomics, which they debuted during Free Comic Book Day at Thunderfury Comics in Marion, Ohio.

I can’t say enough about the OAC’s TeachArts Ohio grants. Thanks to them, I get to see kids walk taller semester after semester.

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My Kid Could Do That!

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…it doesn’t have to be by a well-known artist. A child can do an archetype, maybe probably does more type of [archetypal] images than artists do. They spontaneously arise.

Thomas Singer, Jungian Analyst

I was arrested by this bit on a recent This Jungian Life Podcast. It seems to harmonize with something I’ve been trying to capture in my classroom; that a comic’s resonance is not dependent on the quality of its images. In other words, you don’t have to be a great illustrator to be a great storyteller. Anyone can make a comic that moves an audience, even if the author doesn’t identify as an artist. But this discussion on archetypal images adds another dimension to that idea. Maybe there’s something about art that emerges from a place of spontaneity that carries more charge with it. A practiced artist can do this, of course, but it’s a combination of the spontaneity and skill at work. It’s not just the skill.

I’m going to think about this and how I can more thoughtfully impress this on my students.

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Playful Collaboration – The Cartoonist’s Instinct

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If you put two or more cartoonists together in a restaurant, something’s getting drawn on. Napkins, takeout containers, pizza boxes–they’re getting covered in doodles. For many cartoonists (professional or not), doodling feels like our first language. So when we’re comfortable and amongst our peers, that’s what we default to.

I noticed in these playful drawing sessions that something collaborative emerges. One person might draw a spaceship, and the next might draw some planets or comets around it. No one says, no, you can’t add that. The implicit rule is the improv cliche of yes, and.

This is why I lead a session of Great Big Giant Awesome Comic in every multi-week comics course. It draws on a cartoonist’s instinct to doodle while leaning into the playful collaboration that can happen as you go. Students learn how to negotiate with others. They experience the happy surprises that come when you let art emerge.

I most recently led this as part of my 8-week course at The McConnell Arts Center of Worthington. The kids committed to the point where they needed extra sheets of paper to branch off their storylines. It was a joyful experience.

It’s hard to count how many times I’ve led this activity over the last 15 or so years. But I’ve been present for many Great Big Giant Awesome Comics.

    You can find where I’ll be teaching next here. You can find lesson plans and how to bring me to your school or library here.

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    Free Comic Book Day 2023!

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    This Saturday I’ll be at Thunderfury Comics in Marion, Ohio. But I won’t be pushing my comics this Free Comic Book Day–I’ll be celebrating these young authors:

    For the past nine weeks I’ve been working with the Interactive Media students at Tri-Rivers Career Center. Made possible by the Ohio Arts Council’s TeachArtsOhio grant, my residency helped the students to create characters, thumbnail stories, and eventually make their own minicomics.

    Some of the students worked alone on their books, while others chose to work in teams. And you can bet there were plenty of teachable moments in both scenarios!

    Because I was working with a career center, my syllabus contained some lessons on freelancing and entrepreneurship. So the students created supporting products like stickers, buttons, and bookmarks. Some of them even made custom stands to prop up their books!

    My thanks to the Ohio Arts Council, and to Tri-Rivers Interactive Media instructors Josh Ebert and Jeff Davidson for inviting me to such a meaningful experience.

    This was a meaningful project for me. I can’t wait to celebrate these kids this Saturday.

    Interested in having me visit your classroom?
    See where I’m teaching next!

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    Drawing on the Walls

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    The Ann Arbor Art Center asked me to create some experiential art events for a fundraiser last week. The objective was to get people who don’t identify as artists to engage in some creative activity–and they told me I had all the walls in one of their gallery to use. I immediately thought about the draw wall we used to run at A2CAF:

    Which is a variation on an exercise I lead in my classroom: Great Big Giant Awesome Comic:

    It’s an activity that teaches collaboration in a playful way, inspired by how cartoonists tend to draw all over everything when they’re hanging out.

    This tends to be fun for kids and cartoonists, but adults who have talked themselves out of making art are another puzzle altogether. So I came up with a series of timed rounds wherein they only had one concern:

    • Round one: draw colored shapes
    • Round two: add details to someone else’s shapes, turning them into characters
    • Round three: add word balloons to the characters so they are interacting

    There was something mildly subversive about painting up an art gallery’s walls like that, which contributed to the good time everyone had. This was a fun one that I’d love to lead again.

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    Thunder Punch Daily 126 – More Updates From the Road

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    Today I share some of the things I’m working on as we lead up to Kids Read Comics 2011 and use it as a demonstration of the many realms of concern that will face you as you begin your own public comics events. There’s a lot to do, a lot to worry about, but it’s all worth it!

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