Saturday, September 14th
Roll The Dice! Comics Storytelling Via D20 with Miss Lasko-Gross
09/14/2024 | 11:00am – 12:30pm | Glen Echo Room
Artists of all ages/skill levels welcome! Join Miss Lasko-Gross (Faculty BFA Comics, SVA) as we will be rolling D20s to design an original character, and then drawing a one page comic (with provided pencils/template.) Depending on how fast attendees make it through the prompts, we will either have a critique or a quick gallery. Attendees will take home their comic page.
The Power Of Reference with Nathan Fox
09/14/2024 | 11:00am – 12:30pm | Forest Glen Room
Creating empathetic characters, immersive worlds, and realistic props from either reference or imagination alone can be a daunting task. This workshop explores the importance of harnessing both your creative imagination and good research practices, combined for a liberating and transformational creative process. Learn some quick and efficient reference and research tricks, how to think spatially and draw sculpturally—using reference as inspiration rather than a crutch. Nathan Fox of SVA will lead the workshop.
Giving Wonder to the Mundane with Ashley Jablonski
09/14/2024 | 12:30pm – 2:00pm | Glen Echo Room
Seemingly everyday things can inspire us every single day. You can draw inspiration and wonder from the mundane. Ashley Jablonski will be working with you on prompts and exercises to spark that wonder and make a comic from it. Color, texture, emanata, and text can help show that wonder. Materials will be provided.
Paper Possibilities: Exploring One-Sheet Zine Formats with Kori Handwerker
09/14/2024 | 12:30pm – 2:00pm | Forest Glen Room
Beyond the classic one-sheet, there’s a world of expressive zine formats that require no more than paper, scissors, and hands to fold with! In this workshop, we will explore the variability and versatility of a single-sheet book through hands-on exercises and zine construction. Kori Handwerker will help you explore how different combinations and orientations of cuts and folds can reveal new ways of reading and navigating a simple zine, and walk away with five ready-to-use zine dummies that YOU made!
Figure Drawing For Cartoonists with Babs New and Danielle Corsetto (18+ Only)
09/14/2024 | 2:00pm – 3:30pm | Glen Echo Room
Learn how to apply figure drawing to making more confident, believable, and dynamic comics characters! This will be a live figure-drawing workshop, so be prepared to draw! 18+ and please be respectful; we will have a live nude model. Hosted by cartoonist/lecturer Danielle Corsetto, and cartoonist/model Babs New(d).
Peter Kuper: Outside The Box
09/14/2024 | 2:00pm – 3:30pm | Forest Glen Room
From World War 3 to Spy vs Spy; from the undergrounds to the New Yorker, cartoonist Peter Kuper takes you on a tour through his wide-ranging and Kafkaesque career in comics.
Lettering WTF? with Tom Hart
09/14/2024 | 3:30pm – 5:00pm | Forest Glen Room
Do you wait until the end to think about LETTERING? Do you just cram some font into an oval? Would you rather SOMEONE ELSE do it? Do you wish it didn’t exist at all? This workshop is to teach you all you didn’t know about HAND LETTERING, and give you the tools to make it fun, expressive, and a part of your natural drawing process…
Toned – Thinking Critically About Skin with Kimberly Swanner
09/14/2024 | 3:30pm – 5:00pm | Glen Echo Room
Join local Rockville-based artist and educator Kimberly Swanner in a workshop where they will discuss the importance of research and practice when illustrating a variety of skin tones in flat works, then work alongside them in an exercise aimed at honing your skills.
Physical Self-Care For Artists And Writers with Kriota Wilberg
09/14/2024 | 5:00pm – 6:30pm | Glen Echo Room
Living a creative and productive life centered around a sketchbook, digital device, desk, or small-scale work area can be liberating for your mind, but hard on your body. Hours of daily writing and drawing can lead to repetitive stress injuries, eye strain, stress, and all sorts of pain. In this workshop, Kriota Wilberg explores the relationships between your creative environment, tools, hand/wrist alignment, and posture, when working with traditional or digital equipment. Learn some ergonomics hacks and how to prevent eye strain. Explore ways to make drawing and writing postures easier on your body. Practice some self-care techniques that will loosen tight muscles and reduce stress.
Three Is A Magic Number: Make An Experimental Comic with Matt Madden
09/14/2024 | 5:00pm – 6:30pm | Forest Glen Room
Matt Madden will show you how to make a one-page comic using a prompt taken from a simple yet challenging poetry form called a tritina. You’ll learn how rules and constraints can spark your creativity and help you enter a flow state of deep focus. You can use these principles for everything from warm-up sketches to jam comics with friends to ambitious, book-length works. Paper and drawing materials will be provided.
Sunday, September 15th
Conveying Sensation In Comics with Josh Bayer
09/15/2024 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm | Forest Glen Room
Comics communicate human experience in a very comic book way that can be obvious, bombastic, and fleetingly transient. In this hour workshop, beloved yet criminally underrated comics superstar Josh Bayer discusses and demonstrates how we can exploit some of the inkiest and most subtle qualities of the page and the analog tools that make them come to life. It might suck or it might be life-changing, but the only way to know is by coming and bringing everyone who cares about how to make comics.
Jokes with a Twist! with Coco Fox and Annabel Driussi
09/15/2024 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm | Glen Echo Room
Calling all silly cartoonists who want to learn about story structure! In this one-hour workshop, you will leave with a funny (and/or punny) four-panel comic that ends in a TWIST! Coco Fox and Annabel Driussi will guide you on how to make a character, give that character a goal, and then create a great twist ending! All in a 4-panel joke. Can’t wait to see what stories you come up with!
Drawing Anatomy In Action with Babs New and Kriota Wilberg
09/15/2024 | 1:30pm – 3:00pm | Glen Echo Room
No matter what we are doing, the shapes of our bodies are determined by the positions of our bones, the contraction and stretch of our muscles, and the contours of our tissues and skin covering the anatomy underneath. Understanding anatomy helps us create real or imaginary characters—in any style—that are consistent and physically believable. This workshop explores drawing the body based on the anatomy of movement. Kriota Willberg will—literally—draw on Babs New, our live model, tracing muscles and bones for participants to draw in any style they choose.
Making Comics With Unconventional Materials with Filipa Estrela
09/15/2024 | 1:30pm – 3:00pm | Forest Glen Room
An intro into the world of unconventional material comics! Join Filipa Estrela for this experimental comics-making session. We’ll talk through what unconventional material comics are, why you might want to use unconventional materials, go over tips on how to get started, and then dive into playing with materials to make a one-page unconventional material comic.
Gag Cartoon Crash Course with Sofia Warren and Hilary Campbell
09/15/2024 | 3:00pm – 4:30pm | Forest Glen Room
Turn your gripes into art! New Yorker cartoonists Hilary Campbell and Sofia Warren are here to introduce you to the art of the single-panel cartoon. We’ll study what works and doesn’t, discuss technique, and then jump right in and create our own toons! You’ll also get feedback from peers, and leave with everything you need to start making your own gag cartooning practice.
Asking Questions With Comics
09/15/2024 | 4:30pm – 6:00pm | Forest Glen Room
Comics are a magical medium that can be used to ponder the world around us and make complicated ideas both legible and memorable. Cartoonists Dan Nott (This is What Democracy Looks Like, Hidden Systems) and Sophie Yanow (War of Streets and Houses, The Contradictions) will provide an overview of their work and artistic processes, and facilitate an activity that turns curiosity into comics. This workshop is great for artists and reluctant drawers alike!
Mindful Drawing
09/15/2024 | 4:30pm – 6:00pm | Glen Echo Room
Relax and draw with cartoonist Cara Bean, creator of Here I Am, I Am Me. Cara Bean guides participants through a series of calming, tranquil drawing exercises that are fun and sprout creative ideas. See what mentally positive outcomes occur when we draw together! No drawing experience is needed and all ages are welcome.