Comics and Graphic Novels

About this course:

There’s a fascinating series of tensions in comics. The tension between word and image, between what’s seen and unseen, passive and active readership, expectations and pay-offs, space and time and, of course, the dramatic tension that makes a given scene engaging. There’s also the tension that can arise between creative collaborators, so this course will also explore what makes for good collaboration.  Comics are referred to as “the Ninth Art” in France, and it’s key to understand the medium’s similarities and differences with artforms as deeply as possible. A writer simply handing a screenplay to an art team and asking them to go figure it out, for instance, is almost always a recipe for disaster. A comics script that’s been carefully tailored to the form, however, has far better chance to soar. Through a series of practical workshops, lectures that make the most nuanced theories accessible and helpful perspectives from a selection of working professional guest speakers, this course will be giving you all the insight to make the best comic possible.