VIEW THE PARTICIPANTS, CLASSES AND PRICING
The Masterclasses are primarily aimed at those seriously looking towards a career in comics. Covering numerous aspects of comics storytelling extending beyond the basics to include colouring, superhero design and developing a graphic novel, each one-hour class will limited to no more than 30 students.
Even established professionals have benefited from similar lectures with Superior Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman saying of Chaykin’s class:
“The Marvel artist seminar was a life-changing experience for me. It made me realize how much thought and effort can go into a comic book. I realized that even though I thought I had been giving it my all, I hadn’t. Howard gave me new storytelling tools to think about, and my work improved immensely over the months after the seminar. I often wish I could do it again, just to learn even more.”
Participants are expected to bring their own materials: paper, pencils, pens, etc. Tickets are available through the Online Store now. Please note that no tickets will be available at the show.
PARTICIPANTS
DAN ABNETT: A prolific and highly popular author whose work has appeared in prose novels and as audio dramas, Dan Abnett’s numerous comics credits include Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinite Crisis, 2000 AD and The New Deadwardians. He is now offering to provide those about to embark on a writing career as well as those who have taken their first steps along the road with a map to lead them towards their goal.
JON BOGDANOVE: Probably best-known for helping to kill off Superman and co-creating Steel during his four-year stint on Superman: The Man of Steel, Jon Bogdanove has drawn and written such other comics as Power Pack, X-Terminators and Fantastic Four vs X-Men. He now brings the experience he has gained throughout a career spanning almost 30 years to lessons designed to help others who want to follow in his footsteps.
HOWARD CHAYKIN: A bold and highly respected innovator since he burst on to the comicbook scene in 1972, Howard Chaykin has become renowned throughout the industry as much for his insightful analysis of the art of comicbook storytelling as for his unique creative skills which have produced such acclaimed titles as American Flagg, Blackhawk, The Shadow, Black Kiss, Avengers 1959 and Satellite Sam. He is now bringing the experience that he has gained over the past four decades plus to a pair of lessons that will provide writers and artists of all levels with an understanding of the various skills necessary to producing great comics.
GARY ERSKINE: Star Trek, Star Wars, Dan Dare, Captain America, Doctor Who and Judge Dredd are just a handful of the properties Gary Erskine has drawn in a career spanning a quarter of a century. Now he offers his expertise to guide a new generation of artist through the important but often neglected art of character design. His one-hour tutorial is suitable for newcomers and more advanced students alike.
JOHN HIGGINS: Famed for his work on Watchmen, award-winning colourist John Higgins offers guidance and advice on digitally colouring comics. He is providing three one-hour sessions aimed at newcomers and more advanced students alike in a classroom environment. Each will have its own unique focus and conclude with a group discussion/Q&A during which Higgins can be asked about other aspects of colouring for comics.
STEVE MARCHANT: Probably best-known for the cartoon and comic art workshops that he’s been running at the Cartoon Museum, across the UK, and internationally for the last 23 years, Steve Marchant’s own work currently appears in David Lloyd’s online comic Aces Weekly. He is running two taster classes for children and adults that might start people off on a glittering career.
BRYAN TALBOT: Acclaimed worldwide for such works as The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, A Tale of One Bad Rat, Alice in Sunderland and Grandville, Bryan Talbot offers a unique look at what it takes to produce a graphic novel. Across an hour and a half, the award-winning writer/artist describes his methods and approaches as he seeks to provide newcomers and more advanced practitioners alike with the skills necessary to create longform comics stories.
TIMETABLE
FRIDAY 6:30pm
DESIGN YOUR OWN SUPERHERO WORKSHOP JR Gary Erskine’s session offers valuable professional advice to help create your own superhero [or villain] with valuable tips and industry know-how to make them the best characters ever! The class will explore how colour and shape, texture and pattern, and those all important accessories can all help to realise your vision and define your character! And don’t forget to include that all important logo too! Who knows what will happen next? Your superhero could be the nextbig comic series, action figure or summer blockbuster movie! This class will be your first step to creating a new superhero of the future!
Ages 11 and up
Tickets £30
FRIDAY 7:45pm
WRITING COMICS In this informal talk and Q&A Dan Abnett covers the nuts and bolts of writing comic scripts and plots, the methods, formats and structures involved, and the ‘basic rules’ you ought to know before you start breaking them.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SATURDAY 10:00am
MAKE A MINI-COMIC It’s all very well inventing cartoon characters – and that is what we’re going to do – but what do you do with them next? Steve Marchant will impart the answer to that ages-old question “Where do you get your ideas from?” and show you how to write and draw your own 6-panel story into an actual mini-comic booklet made from just one sheet of paper. You can then take it away, pop to a copyshop, and begin your self-publishing empire.
Ages 13-99
Tickets £30
SATURDAY 11:15am
AN INTRODUCTION TO COLOURING John Higgins covers a history of colour and comic influences with special emphasis on the Watchmen approach. The first half is an introduction to computer colouring and digital files, with students being given a choice of either using layer flats (modern style) or separate file flats (Higgins’ style) for the remainder of the lesson. A lap top with mouse or wacom tablet and Photoshop software is needed.
Every pupil will be supplied with three black files, three flat files, three tone files as examples and to work on as well as a Word Doc outlining colour basics.
SATURDAY 12:30pm
HOW TO CREATE A GRAPHIC NOVEL An examination of the typical creative process Bryan Talbot uses when writing and drawing one of his books from original conception to finished page. It covers research, plotting, story structure, scripting, the use of grids, panel transitions, page composition, layout, use of eye level, lettering and colouring.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SATURDAY 1:45pm
FROM BLACK LINE TO CMYK In this lesson John Higgins will cover filling in flats from either from his digital files, or from the students’ own if they wish with particular focus on mood and scene setting and object/face/figure modelling. A lap top with mouse or wacom tablet and Photoshop software is needed.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SATURDAY 3:00pm
DESIGN YOUR OWN SUPERHERO WORKSHOP In this session Gary Erskine offers valuable professional advice to help create your own superhero [or villain] with valuable tips and industry know-how to make them the best characters ever! During the class you will understand how colour and shape, texture and pattern, and those all important accessories can all help to realise your vision and define your character! And don’t forget to include that all important logo too! Who knows what will happen next? Your superhero could be the next BIG comic series, action figure or summer blockbuster movie! This class will be your first step to creating a new superhero of the future!
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SATURDAY 4:15pm
FROM CMYK TO TERTIARY MODELLING AND BACK-LIGHTING A more detailed exploration of object, face and figure modelling will be followed by an in-depth tutorial in which John Higgins explains how to balance colour over a complete scene/story. A lap top with mouse or wacom tablet and Photoshop software is needed.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SUNDAY 10:00am
STORY TELLING 101 PART ONE In a visual demonstration, Howard Chaykin walks seminar participants through the PARADIGM, the perfect and archetypal visual to illustrate the hidden language, syntax and vocabulary of comics and the comics page. The participants leave with a three-page excerpt from a comicbook script, to follow and use what they’ve learned to create a layout based on the principles of the paradigm. It is important to note that we are not talking about drawing here. Rather, this seminar is devoted solely to the organisation of the primary delivery system of comics – the page.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SUNDAY 11:15am
BASIC VISUAL STORYTELLING 101 Learn how to transition from filling sketchbook after sketchbook with pin-up poster shots of characters, to become an actual visual storyteller as revealed by Jon Bogdanove. Basic techniques of visual exposition are discussed, necessary to all forms of visual narrative media, including comics, illustration, storyboards, animation, videogame design, film and video.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SUNDAY 12:30pm
THE INSTANT COMIC STRIP WORKSHOP In this session, Steve Marrchant will show you a few shortcuts to creating your own character, using wacky worksheets that you can take away later and practise from at home. Then, you’ll draw your character into a specially-designed one-page comic strip that will amaze your friends and teachers alike. And, Steve will teach you how to draw hands. Yes, hands. Tricky blighters
Ages 8-12
Tickets £30
SUNDAY 3:00pm
TBA
SUNDAY 3:00pm
THE MARVEL WAY VS FULL SCRIPT Jon Bogdanove conducts a discussion of the relative merits of drawing comics from a full script, versus collaborating with a writer in the method invented by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The method, commonly referred to by comics professionals as “Marvel-Style, The Marvel Way is a powerful, uniquely comics-based technique for maximizing the effective talents of both writers and artists, in the least amount of time. It was intrinsic to the comics revolution of the 1960s we know today as The Marvel Age – but it is not without its difficult challenges – sometimes disastrous, often comical. A useful lesson for both artists and writers who want to work with them. Includes tips on finding the most compatible artist or writer to work with and ways to modify both Marvel style and Full-Script types of collaboration.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
SUNDAY 4:15pm
STORY TELLING 101 PART TWO In this session, the participants post their laid out pages, and Howard Chaykin does an overview, pointing out the virtues and weaknesses of the pages.
Ages 16 and up
Tickets £30
Again, no tickets will be available at the show, so make sure you buy your tickets through the Online Store before the event.