The important stuff . . .

Every week, Krisit will conduct a live, interactive session exploring a particular topic (see below for more detailed descriptions of each week’s session, plus a note on the availability of recordings of the sessions). The sessions will include tips, techniques, strategies, and exercises that attendees can put to use on their own to further experiment and explore that week’s topic, and to further develop and hone their skills. In addition, attendees will be given access to bonus content – activity sheets, prompts, and videos, all created by Kristi – to use, if they wish, in the days between sessions.

Each week’s session will run approximately 90 minutes (Kristi will not stop promptly at the 90-minute mark if she and the attendees are in the middle of something important and productive). The first part of each week’s session will be the “lesson” portion, which, depending on the week, will run between 45 and 60 minutes (it will be engaging and interactive – a visually rich discussion as opposed to a lecture). The remainder of the session will be left open for Q&A, so that Kristi can make sure to address and teach about aspects of any given topic that attendees are particularly interested in. If questions are not forthcoming, Kristi will fill the remainder of any given session with additional instruction, extra tips, and individual and/or group exercises.

To learn more about the particular sessions Kristi is offering during this summer’s course, see below.

Creative Camp Timeline

IMPORTANT: These sessions are made for creators of ALL skill levels and ALL levels of familiarity. In other words, you can attend – and learn lots and have fun – whether you have never tried to draw or make a comic or write a story before, or you already love and do these things regularly.

Week 1: Drawing

In this session, Kristi will share a variety of techniques that can be used to draw anything and everything. Whether an attendee has never attempted to draw before, or is someone who loves it and does it regularly, the material presented will be applicable – it will either serve as a foundation from which one can further develop their skills and style, or as a new collection of strategies and exercises to assist one on their ongoing drawing journey.

Week 2: Comic-Making

In this session, Kristi will explore how comics work, and will share how one can make meaning and create stories using the unique language of comics. Once again, the material presented in this session will be applicable both for those who have never tried to make a comic before and those who are already making their own comics strips, books, or even graphic novels.

Week 3: Character Creation

In this session, Kristi will explore the importance of character in stories and storytelling. Attendees will learn how to figure out why they find their own favorite characters so great, and then learn how to create characters who are equally compelling. This topic, and all of the associated matters, will be explored from a verbal, writing perspective as well as a visual, design perspective.

Week 4: Story-Building

In this session, Kristi will share many of the ways one can find ideas for stories, and will then go on to explore what to do once you have an idea. Attendees will leave this session with multiple, easy-to-use techniques for “building” a comprehensive, compelling story from scratch. Kristi will further share how, once a story’s scaffolding (or general shape, or outline) has been laid out, one can use that structure to figure out what words and/or pictures to use to tell that story, whether writing prose or making comics or doing some combination of both.

Week 5: Digital Drawing and Book-Making Tour

In this session, Kristi will give a quick crash course in digital art, sharing a variety of tips, techniques, strategies, and methods for productively and powerfully using digital drawing platforms (such as the relatively affordable Procreate, as well as other, similar ones). Building on this, Jarrett will walk attendees through the process of how a book actually becomes a book – from an idea in one’s head, to a first draft in a notebook or on a computer, to a physical, bound-and-glued bundle of pages one can pick up in a bookstore or library (and all the steps in between, too).

Week 6: Bonus Week

In this final session, attendees will have an additional opportunity to ask questions, and will also be able to hear more about previous topics, learn about some other, unexplored topic, or do a bit of both. For instance: if a large number of attendees are interested in learning more about comic-making, Kristi will discuss additional, more advanced matters related to creating comics and graphic novels.

START TIME OF ALL SIX SESSIONS: Wednesdays at 10 am EST (on June 22, June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, and July 27). Sessions will be held on Zoom. Links to join each session will be sent out each week, either on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, to the email address supplied in the below registration form.

NOTE ON RECORDINGS: All sessions will be LIVE, meaning attendees can interact with Kristi in real time, and also have the chance to ask their questions and share their thoughts. However, all attendees will also have access to recordings of the sessions, should they be unable to attend one week or several weeks, or if they simply wish to tune into all of the sessions on their own time. These recordings will be available for a limited time only (for up to one week after each session), will be password protected, and will be prevented from being shared.

IMPORTANT: Attendees can only be signed up by parents or legal guardians.