This June, the Pacific Northwest College of Art in downtown Portland is presenting students aged 13 to 15 with an amazing opportunity to learn the skills to express themselves through the comics medium. The program is called Creativity Labs: Comics, starts June 21, and will be taught by comic artist Erika Moen and illustrator/teacher Terri Nelson, both members of Portland’s famous Periscope Studio. Students will learn how to take their own scripts and translate them into minicomics, giving physical form to their imagination. Erika Moen took some time away from her lesson plan to give some insight into the upcoming program:
What prompted you to teach a class for kids? Did you ever attend a class like this as a kid?
My high school, The Northwest School in Seattle, offered a comic making class and it was absolutely invaluable to me as a young artist. I took it three times because I enjoyed it so much and it was so stimulating to my budding artistic development. Working with seasoned cartoonists helped me advance much more quickly than I could have on my own. To this day, I am still using the lessons they taught me as an adolescent.
When PNCA presented me with the opportunity to teach students in the field that I am passionate about, of course I jumped on it! I'm so grateful to my teachers for helping guide me and open my eyes and I would love the chance to pay them back by passing on the education they gave me when I was the same age as these students are now.
What are you hoping that kids will take away from the class?
The students will come away not only understanding how to deconstruct and compose an individual comic page, but also the ability to create and produce their own minicomics which they can not only give to family and friends but also bring to comic shops and conventions. I'm hoping they will feel empowered to get their stories into their community, or at the very least to have their work collected into a booklet that they can hold in their hands. The great thing about making minicomics is that it turns the creator into their own publisher, with the ability to spread their words and pictures to as many people as they can make a booklet for. That's a very powerful feeling, to know that people are holding your hard work in their hands-- and I want these students to know how to make it happen.
Creativity Labs: Comics will be held from June 21 - July 1, Monday through Thursday 9:30 - 12:30. Information about the class and enrollment can be found on PNCA’s website.
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