Set to Sea pg. 99
A few last words of practical advice for people teaching comics:
• Explain every little step multiple times – take nothing for granted. Let the ink dry before erasing? Some kids don’t realize that.
• Age will have little to do with ability levels.
• It’s hard to tell what activities will be flops or successes in advance, so roll with the punches.
• Likewise, think on your feet, because sometimes your kids will be done or bored with the 20 minute drawing activity in 5 minutes, and you’ll have to hustle for something new. Or the opposite can happen.
• Kids love to see you draw pictures live on the whiteboard.
• Kids really love “random” humor: tea parties, penguins, waffles, top hats, and stinky feet were especially popular this year.
If you’ve got some more, please post ’em in the comments!
Two comics-related things that caught my eye:
• Dirty Beetle Bailey strips? My god, Mort Walker beat Johnny Ryan to the punch by years!
• Dammit, I’m the homebrewer, I’m the one who should’ve come up with the idea of attaching a minicomic to a bottle of beer.
Thanks for these great tips, Drew. I’m doing my first comic workshop at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August (though I might try and get a ‘practice run’ at my local library first) so this is all good stuff. Cheers!