Comics!

The Minuteman Crew of '09

Lucky for me, I have been able to teach comic book development classes at both Minuteman Regional High School’s summer program and at Partnership for Community Schools in Malden after school programs. Here is a brief glimpse into unique stories and the creative writing and illustration within them.

This manga-style illustration was a common trait among the young artists.

Here is one of the PCSM groups. They insisted that "Baby" made it into the photo.

The aerial perspective was great to see.

The stories develop with the help of story and character development exercises.

Throughout the comic book process, I stressed to students to practice drawing. At times, students would become discouraged because their drawings did not look like their favorite comic books. I told them how long it takes for someone to be able to draw as well as some do. And, that by practicing will make us all become better artists. In addition to still-life exercises, students drew monsters and ghouls from Draw 50: Monsters and Ghouls by Lee J. Ames. Developing a monster with a step by step approach seemed to help the students understand that drawing is a building process. Understanding that all objects could be simplified into simple shapes was a theory I stressed many times throughout the comic book development process. Here is an example of a “monster” and the stunning result of following instructions:

Is Yoda really a monster? Think that I don't!

WOW!!

Check out that awesome sign collaboration!

This guy could draw his pig characters in his sleep, actually, he probably does!

This boy's vision and ability were so much fun to work with.

A more in-depth look at Pig, Piggles and Piglet.