Garry McLaughlin

An ongoing comic group for young people aged 12-16 based in the Whiteinch Community Centre. We will explore how comics can be used to help engage kids with literacies issues, and how young people, regardless of age and skill, can learn to tell visual stories through the medium of comic books.

Lessons and fun and exercise driven, and are led by an experienced tutor who has worked with a number of different groups in the past.

Participants with additional support needs are welcome, and we will discuss individual needs at the time of booking to make sure we can offer the best environment possible in which to learn and have fun.

Please contact me for more details if you are interested, and I will keep you up to date with exact dates.

After a successful course run at Whiteinch Centre from January to April 2011, I will be running an adults further education class in comic book creation.

This will follow a formal lesson structure covering everything required to produce comics including character building, story, scripting and dialogue, basic anatomy and posing, panelling, thumbnailing and layout, among others.

Previous participants have gone on to make their own webcomics and short comic strips, as well as self publish their own.

Classes are relaxed and take place in a fantastic city centre venue, with comfy sofas and coffee available for the theory sections, before we break out into small groups to work on the practical aspects.

I am an experienced workshop facilitator and comic book penciller, with experience in digital art and design, and I ensure that people of all skills and experience can enjoy the groups.

For more information, check out the website at http://www.laseragecomics.co.uk or email me on comicworkshops@yahoo.co.uk

I have recently run two workshops through the Whiteinch Centre, Introduction to Comic Book Art, for kids and adults. These workshops have been a great success, and took people of all skill and experience levels through a rapid introduction to creating comics. We looked at developing interesting characters, building stories and creating finished pages.

These workshops were a cut down version of a larger workshop programme. It is my aim over 10-12 weeks to encourage people to develop their creativity and their critical thinking by using the comic book format to explore their own and their community's stories.

The longer workshop sessions take participants through all the areas of comic making. We cover character development, anatomy, dynamic figure drawing and expression, backgrounds and perspective, panel layout, roughing out ideas, developing a page, finished pencils, inking, lettering and balloon placement. We also cover self publishing, and information on how to follow a career in comic book creation.

At the end of the workshops, participants work is collated together into an anthology comic for them all to keep, and there is the option for industrious group to market and sell self-published versions of these.

Depending on the venue, there will also be the opportunity for a sharing at the end of the course, where they can display and talk through their work with friends, family and the local community.