Thursdays April 1-22 * 7-8pm

Comics Process(ing)

Building on the introductory course, Making Comics for Yourself, this follow-up course will further develop the basic skills of creating comics from your life: layout, design, background, emotionality, and more. We’ll take a closer look at our comics skills, and a closer look at ourselves, to create even more meaning and fun in our comics practice.

Week one – Faces of Emotion (1 hour)
Materials: whatever you like to draw with, a mirror.
Most comics use the facial expressions of characters to convey information. In this course, the main character is you. You probably don’t know what your face looks like in every moment of spontaneous emotion – and that’s because you’re not usually looking at it! In our physically distanced world of the pandemic, we’re seeing our own faces more often. Why not explore – and document –- all the ways they can look?

Week two – Rhythm of a Page (1 hour)
Materials: Whatever you like to draw with, scissors, tape or glue.
This class is all about layout and shapes. Shapes you like, shapes that talk, shapes that guide the eye and create a feeling. We’ll put pieces together in new ways, and change meaning just by changing shapes.

Week three – Comics Process (1 hour)
Materials: Whatever you like to draw with.
What does a typical comics process look like? There are as many different processes as there are human beings, but it’s useful to have somewhere to start. We’ll try this process, and talk about how to modify it to suit our individual working styles and needs.

Week four – Are we there yet? (1 hour)
Materials: Whatever you like to draw with.
All of us have expectations for ourselves and goals we want to reach. This class will use comics as a way to accept life as a process, and a process worth enjoying. We’ll draw out our dreams, and some new concepts for celebrating the steps on our way – whether we’ll end up where we think, or somewhere totally different!

If you have any questions or concerns about accessibility in these classes, please contact Georgia at info@georgiawebber.com.

Testimonials from past participants:
“We so enjoyed participating in Georgia Webber’s Drawing the Inside Out workshop. She was a fantastic facilitator and it felt easy to connect. Particularly during these trying times, this was one of our highlights of the week. Having participated allowed for both my partner Sam and I to talk about what it stirred, how we felt, even after the class was over. This tapped into the core of some issues and shed light on our own perceptions and wellbeing. This is something I would highly recommend and we do believe this is an essential tool to help maintain good mental health.”

“Georgia Webber’s Drawing from the Inside Out workshop was a wonderful opportunity for me to be introduced to comics as a way of understanding and expressing my own feelings.”

“Georgia brought a warm attitude, respect for each participant’s comfort level, mastery of her discipline and a great taste in music to bring out our creative energies!
Georgia was genuinely interested in getting to know us as participants, gave us exciting drawing prompts, encouragement and kind and helpful feedback. This program was artistically and socially beneficial to me. I am continuing to draw comics as an outlet to process my experiences and believe I’ll continue to do so for a long time. I enjoy reflecting on what I learned from Georgia and my fellow participants, and the laughter and empathy that we shared.”

Biography:
Georgia Webber is a comics artist, writer, and editor. She adores teaching and leads by exemplifying curiosity in the classroom. Her philosophy is that teaching is a relationship first, allowing the learning process to be fun and organic and suited to each learner’s specific access needs. Georgia is best known for her graphic memoir, Dumb: Living without a Voice (Fantagraphics 2018), the chronicle of her severe vocal injury and sustained vocal condition, which makes using her voice painful (though she manages it well these days). This experience led her to explore more deeply the intersections of creativity and health, through working as a Cranial Sacral Therapist, a meditation facilitator, and as an improvising musician, blending elements of healthcare, body awareness, and creative expression within constraints. Her exploration of health and creativity continue in a weekly online practice session called Drawing Health, which is free and open to all. Georgia’s comics have been published in major magazines and studied extensively by the Graphic Medicine community. Her most recent publication was a collaboration with dancer, athlete, and artist Vivian Chong to create Vivian's graphic memoir about losing her sight: Dancing After TEN (Fantagraphics 2020). Learn more at www.georgiawebber.com.