1. a 90 minute workshop, which we've done for 16 different branch locations
2. a multi session workshop, lasting 6 to 8 weeks, with 2 hour sessions a week
The library taps some amazing grants, which enable us to bring in guest artists and to outfit the kids with amazing materials. Imagine being a teen and getting a free 8 week cartooning course, at the end of which you receive a professional, black, soft portfolio, 24 blue line pro-art boards, a mechanical pencil, a pack of leads, a mechanical eraser, a copy of Making Comics (Scott McCloud), a copy of a graphic novel of your choice, copies of a professionally printed comic book with your art in it, your friends' art in it, and a new drawing by David Mack in it. Pretty sweet.
Beyond the free materials, one of the things that make these workshops so special is the small size of the group--15 kids--which means that they get great interaction with Matt, myself, and our visiting artists.
The photos below are from a 2007 workshop with David Mack. I have another one set up with him soon, and I'll post pics from that one when available. David's a great guy to have at a workshop. He's a very open and friendly speaker, eager to share his process and answer any questions people might have. We've had David give lectures at The Art Academy too, and that's always been a great experience.
Blogger crops the pics, so click them to see the whole thing.
Here's David (left) with his brother, Steven, another friendly guy who did some great drawings at our workshop.
Here's a shot of the materials David brought with him. Ton's of original boards.
A shot of the kids hard at work on their comic.
Yours truly working with the kids.
A drawing David did of the kids.
The cover of the comic the library produced in conjunction with this workshop. It has work from all the kids, the Mack drawing above, my work, Matt's work, and the work of the other two visiting artists, Mark O'Neill, and Matt Parmenter.
