Comic book workshops for children and young people
Workshops Overview
Our comic workshop is a fun and creative activity for children and young people, which offers an insight into all aspects of comics - of which there are many more than you might think!
In our workshop, children and young people learn to look further, at emotions and acting, at caricature types, the use of layout, visualisation and framing.
We teach our participants to play with the different aspects of comic books, from developing a simple story with a clear narrative structure to drawing, building up and then realising cartoon characters which bring their story to life. The course will also teach students how to work with the conventions of comic books, such as speech bubbles, frames, layout types and inserts. The workshop is a wonderfully creative lesson for everyone regardless of their drawing skills, in fact I encourage children who are anxious about their drawing ability to try a course as I believe that every child's style can give life to a comic. It also gives children who are genuinely interested in cartoon drawing that extra insight and support which is so important at that age.
My name is Chrischa Van de Voorde. I mainly work as a graphic designer and illustrator but have been working on comics all my life. I grew up with comic books in the Franco/Belgian tradition, such as The Smurfs, Asterix, Tintin, Lucky Luke, Gaston, and many more. This is the style in which I've always drawn and also the style in which I teach the workshops. The typical American style super hero comics generally utilise a more realistic drawing style, but in order to start children off, I believe the free-form nature of the European style works better. It allows them to more loosely draw characters, leading them to spend more time practicing expressions and poses. The children don't need to focus on trying to draw a realistic person and so can put all their energy in making their creations come alive.
Comics have so much to offer, combining different art forms such as writing, drama, illustration and film. You have to be somewhat familiar with all these art forms to make a good comic and teaching this process is a central part of my workshops. Think beyond those rigid grids, make your character come alive and make it move, create an interesting page, think of a story with a clear beginning, middle and end. Anything is possible in a comic!
Our workshop can be adjusted to any age group, to the timeframe available and to any situation.
Both the way the workshop is given and the content can be adapted to the time available and the age of the group. The course is completely flexible and can be adapted to any group and to any timeframe.
The possibilities are endless and it's not necessary for the children or young people to be have any notable drawing ability in order to follow or enjoy this workshop. If they think they can't draw (because I am convinced all children can draw), then let's make a scribble and create a story around that scribble. Everything is possible, because we are making a comic book!
Examples of my work:
If you would like to look at more of my work or hire me as an illustrator for a project, then feel free to look at my portfolio website on: chrischa.happymonsters.com.
