Had a blast teaching kids how to draw and ink comics at Utrecht Brooklyn this past Saturday! Lots of talented kids (and their parents!) came and I taught them step by step how to create their own character and three panel comic strip. When it got to the inking part, I was a little nervous having open ink bottles around kids, but everything was ok. We mostly inked with Micron pens :) I did get to show them a little of how you can fill in large areas of black with a brush and ink, and how to do ink washes. Initially I thought it would be more of an inking demo to show college students how to use the supplies (this Utrecht is right by Pratt University). The students seemed busy buying art supplies for the back-to-school season, though. But live events are always different and turn out great.
With each new event I do I learn something. I usually teach on a big white board to a big class (at MoCCA), but this time I drew on a bristol board page to show how cartoonists really create their art. I had to keep turning the page around so kids wouldn't see it upside down! Also, it's difficult to do a linear step-by-step routine when people are jumping in at different times. I had to keep tabs on who was at what point while I started over again with new people. I did have some already-drawn simple comics for people who wanted to just jump in with the inking. Maybe I'll do more of that next time. It was a super fun experience though and I love doing this stuff! The Utrecht manager said the event got lots of positive feedback and maybe they'd have me do another one! It's good publicity for me and I sold a few comics, but most of all kids had tons of fun learning and drawing!
