Free Comics Course
Comics storytelling is serious business.
Graphic novels split storytelling straight down the middle between visual and textual information – making the structure a unique art form. Getting the story's text and picture balance just right is what makes great comics and graphic novels work.
The California College of the Arts has a Comics Department for both undergraduate and graduate studies, and offers an MFA in Comics. Matt Silady, an Eisner Award winner and current Chair of CCA's MFA in Comics Program, is the instructor for an online Comics course that’s free – Comics: Art in Relationship.
The adaptive course is made up of 5 sessions, with an estimated 10 hours of work per session, geared towards all levels of mastery in Comic-making.
What you need are pens, pencils, access to a scanner or digital camera, and a printer. And, you need to sign up for the course, which is held twice yearly.
Here’s what each Session covers, as described on the Course sign-up page:
Session 1: In this session, we will ask a few fundamental questions about what makes comics such a special art form. We’re also going to attempt to identify the basic building blocks we can use to tell compelling stories with the comic book medium.
Session 2: This session will explore text-image and panel to panel relationships and how to utilize these relationships to create dynamic and engaging comics.
Session 3: In this session, we'll explore the role time and space play in comics and how we can utilize the concept of compression and decompression to create exciting narratives in comics.
Session 4: Each comics page can take on a different personality depending on its panel layout. In this session, we'll explore the impact layouts have on the story you tell with each comic book page you make.
Session 5: In this session, we'll take a close look at planning out a multi-page scene through the use of thumbnail sketches.
Free Comics Videos
Want to watch free tutorial videos about comic-making without signing up for the online course?
Below are 2 videos from Mark Crilley, author of several books about drawing graphic novels and Manga, as well as several graphic novels.
Want more Comics and drawing info? Check out Mark Crilley's YouTube Channel, and click through to read about the San Francisco Comics Festival, which Matt Siladay helped to start.
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You can explore Mark's books here. Or click on a book cover below to find out more on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).
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