DIARY COMICS SUMMER SCHOOL & WORK CLUB with Nicole J. Georges
Have you always wanted to draw comics? And/or are you an artist looking for a fun way to engage with your practice, learn new generative exercises, and practice daily mindfulness on the page? This class could be for you.
Students will learn the practical skills behind diary comics, meet regularly to develop a comics practice, become part of a mini comics community and leave with a multi-page diary comic suitable for sharing and printing. Our class will culminate in a digital comics swap, with optional physical comics for individuals who are moved by the photocopying spirit!
This class will have 3, 2-hour sessions August 8, 15 & 22
with 6 (optional) guided 20-minute drop-in work sessions in between
Class 1: August 8, 10 a.m. PST
Generative drawing and diary exercises
Comics 101: the principles of simple character design, layout & legibility
Why Diary Comics? How attention to detail and short real-life story arcs can benefit your work more broadly.
Short diary exercises together
8/11, 8/12, 8/13
4 p.m. PST
In our 20-minute meet ups during the week, Nicole (or her TA) will lead you through a generative diary exercise and help you hit the ground running, prepared to draw the day.
Class 2: August 15, 10 a.m. PST
We will do more generative diary comics exercises together
and learn about inking and finishing our work.
Short diary exercises together
8/17, 8/18, 8/19 , 4 p.m. PST
Final Class: August 22, 10 a.m. PST
In this session, we will talk about covers and work on assembling, inking, and sharing our work with one another.
Nicole will talk to you about next steps of self-publishing and answer any questions you have about how to build on these practices, whether to continue making diary comics or parlaying these skills into a longer memoir or nonfiction project.
Then….Digital Comics Swap!
Q: Is this class all-ages?
A: It is!
Q: Do we *have* to swap at the end? What if mine is about something I don’t want to share with a person outside of my general age bracket?
A: Body’s choice. You get to choose what you share and with who. The most important part is that we get to draw together.
In this workshop we will create original work through writing exercises and guided cartooning assignments, and discuss work in a supportive atmosphere to highlight each artist’s strengths. Your comics are not supposed to look like anyone else’s comics.
Students will come away with
- many drawings,
- a deeper relationship with characters from their lives,
- daily drawing exercises and practices that can be used forever and ever,
- access to a community of students who have taken courses with me in the past and continue to draw and support one another!
This class is all-ages and is appropriate for both beginners and more advanced cartoonists. No drawing experience is required, just a willingness to draw.
Cost: $400. Early-bird special: sign up by August 1 for $50 off
There are no refunds for this class. Please consider before enrolling.
Please email to inquire about scholarships and discounts for BIPOC students and trans youth, 18 & under.
Registration:
After you’ve signed up, email me (nicolejgeorges@gmail.com) with the following information:
Name
Place
Do you have any experience with comics? (It’s okay if no)
Do you have any comics goals that I can help with?
Send me a drawing of a dog on a skateboard. It’s okay if it is a rough sketch, photographed by your phone.
Once received, I will confirm within 72 hours that you are enrolled.
Supplies/What to bring:
An simple, fresh, blank notebook (spiral bound or otherwise, but lined or graph paper is terrific).
A pad or stack of paper you like to draw on. I like a mixed media pad for this.
Pens that are easy for you to write & draw with. Preferably Papermate Flair Tip pens or a comparable, water-proof pen.
Anything you’d like to ink with. Examples: Micron pens, brush pens (ex:Pentel Pocket Brush), brushes (ex: 01, 02, 6 faux kolinsky), colored pencils, gouache, watercolor etc.
About the instructor:
Nicole J. Georges has published over 1000 pages of diary comics in her long-running comic zine, Invincible Summer, and in the collection Dog’s Breakfast.
She is an award-winning graphic memoirist, podcaster and professor with over 20 years of experience teaching comics to people of all ages. She is the author of the books Calling Dr. Laura, Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home,and Emotional Support Animals. Her middle grade graphic novel, The Ballad of X-Ray and Koko, will be out in 2027.
Nicole co-created the Independent Publishing Resource Center’s Comics Certificate Program before she was the fellow at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and a Writer in Residence at Colby College and the College of William and Mary. She is a frequent visiting artist at the Sequential Arts Workshop and the Fine Arts Work Center.
Nicole formerly taught at California College of the Arts MFA Comics Program, and has been running an independent Graphic Memoir comics school for 6 years.
