Have an amazing story in your head, but not sure how to get it onto the page? Come join a community of fellow comics fans and animation lovers for a five-day, project-based camp focused on taking your drawing skills to a new level. Whether you want to develop an original character, adapt a favorite from existing media, or create a complete comic from scratch, this camp gives you the structure, feedback, and creative freedom to make it happen.
Instructors will offer personalized guidance on anatomy and proportion, dynamic posing, perspective and spatial construction, composition and panel layout, color theory and visual storytelling, and the full workflow from rough sketch to finished inked and colored page.
High-quality art materials are provided. You may pick them up at our studio, have them shipped to your address, or receive a $30 reimbursement if you prefer to use your own supplies.
Detailed Schedule
Day 1: Introduction and Character Building
- We dive straight into drawing people: proportions, figure structure, gesture, and dynamic poses. The central goal of the day is creating a lead character or group of characters that will anchor your story. Students will also begin brainstorming their comic's plot, whether it's an episodic one-shot or a continuing narrative. Illustrations and story development are both welcome starting points today.
Day 2: Sketching, Planning, and Your First Comic Page
- Today, we tackle composition, panel layout (camera angles and pacing), and spatial perspective. We'll make our first complete comic page using a choose-your-own-adventure format: each comic ends on a decision point, and classmates vote on how the next page continues. Students who prefer to keep illustrating are also welcome to work at their own pace.
Day 3: Backgrounds, Color, and Visual Tone
- Strong characters need compelling environments. We explore how color, value, and lighting function as storytelling tools, and dig into non-standard panel structures and color strategies. By the end of today, students should have their comic fully sketched out or at least two pages completed and polished. Those who finish early are welcome to create additional illustrations or character studies.
Day 4: Creature Design and Continuing the Story
- We open with warm-up gesture sketches that can evolve into design work. Then we explore monster and creature design, covering how to render feathers, scales, fur, and other surface textures convincingly. The goal today is to complete another two pages of the comic and ideally reach the story's conclusion.
