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FO U R - S E M ES T ER P L A N
Sample Reading List Focus on Craft
Scott McCloud, Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Jessica Abel & Matt Madden, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures
Ivan Brunetti, Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice
Matt Madden, 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style
Lynda Barry, What It Is
Randy Duncan, Michael Taylor, and David Stoddard, Creating Comics as Journalism, Memoir & Nonfiction
David Mamet, On Directing Film
Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer
Judith Barrington, Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Sample reading list Literary Graphic Novels
Charles Burns, Black Hole
Dan Clowes, Ice Haven
Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby
Mike Dawson, Angie Bongiolatti
Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing is Monsters
Gilbert Hernandez, Poison River
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp
David Mazzucchelli, Paul Karasik, & Paul Auster, City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
Scott McCloud, The Sculptor
Anders Nilsen, Big Questions
Adrian Tomine, Sleepwalk and Other Stories
Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
Principal faculty: Josh Neufeld
Third Semester The main focus of the third semester is your critical thesis, basically a 30-35-page craft analysis in which you are learning how great comics & graphic narrative creators handle specific craft tools, what the effect is on the reader, and how to employ those tools in your own work.
First SemesterThe first semester is your time to “honeymoon” and play. You will experiment with different forms: a genre story, a diary comic, an adaptation, a nonfiction piece, etc.
1st Semester Craft AnalysesAn in-depth analysis of craft elements employed in published comics/graphic narratives—two to three papers of 3-4 pages each, plus one of 10-12 pages.
Fourth SemesterIn the fourth semester, you focus on your creative thesis: a finished comic/graphic narrative of 48-54 pages.
Fifth (Graduating) ResidencyDuring your fifth and final residency, you teach the craft class, give a reading, and then it’s all about the graduation ceremony!
Graduate LectureDuring the fourth semester, you also will develop a one-hour class based on your critical thesis...
....to be presented in your fifth, graduating residency.
Second SemesterDuring your second semester, you will begin focusing on your creative thesis.
2nd Semester Craft AnalysesSimilar to the first semester, but with a minimum of two 10-to-12-page papers.
ResidenciesEach semester starts with a ten-day residency on PMC’s lovely campus, located just five miles from downtown Boston. Each residency features craft classes, readings, opportunities to learn about publishing, and—maybe most important—the chance to meet fellow writers & artists who share your passion for storytelling. Because our focus is on writing, you’ll spend half the residency gaining feedback on your work-in-progress in a fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or writing for young people workshop; and the other half in our comics & graphic narratives workshop.
Sample C&GN Craft ClassesIntroduction to Graphic Narratives: the vocabulary and language of comics, visual thinking (showing vs. telling vs. implying), close reading, sensory vs. emotional realities, style vs. tone, layers of meaning, layouts and thumbnailing. “Boiling-down” drawing exercises and the collaborative mini-comic.
Storytelling: constraints (and possibilities); scenes as the building blocks of storytelling, action & dialogue, McCloud’s five major types of panel transitions, encapsulation, rhythm and time. Elements & examples of a comics script.
Adaptation: adapting comics across forms (prose, screenplays, poetry, “high art”), Madden’s 99 Ways to Tell a Story; Auster, Karasik, & Mazzucchelli’s City of Glass; Harvey Pekar and the American Splendor movie.
Nonfiction: memoir, journalism, historical, explanatory/educational stories; using research, reference, and primary source material (interviews, journal entries, photographs, on-site sketches, etc.), organizing material to give it authenticity through specificity.
Sample reading list Nonfiction
David B., Epileptic
Kyle Baker, Nat Turner
Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Derf Backderf, My Friend Dahmer
Phoebe Gloeckner, A Child’s Life and Other Stories
Tom Hart, Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One
Harvey Pekar, The New American Splendor Anthology
Ed Piskor, Hip Hop Family Tree
Joe Sacco, Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992–1995
Riad Sattouf, The Arab of the Future
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Craig Thompson, Blankets
G. B. Tran, Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey
Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Graphic Memoir
Lila Quintero Weaver, Darkroom: A Memoir in Black & White
Sample reading list Genre Comics & Graphic Novels
Matt Feazell, Cynicalman
Neil Gaiman, et al, Sandman: A Dream of You
Hergé, Tintin in Tibet
Mat Johnson & Warren Pleece, Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery
Brad Meltzer & Rags Morales, Identity Crisis
Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One
Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell, From Hell
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, Watchmen
Alex Robinson, Box Office Poison
Charles Schulz, Peanuts
R. Sikoryak, Masterpiece Comics
Jeff Smith, Bone
Raina Telgemeier, Smile
Brian K. Vaughn, et al. Y: the Last Man
G. Willow Wilson, et al. Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
• “Analog” tools: Pencils, Pens, Brushes, Ink, Paper, etc.
• Digital tools: PhotoShop, InDesign, Clip Studio, Wacom/Cintiq tablets, and Print/Web Production
• Character Design & Development
• Collaboration
• Outlining & Story Structure
• Scenes and Dialogue
• The Vignette/Short Story
• Coloring & Toning
• Inking
• “Is [Drawing] Craft the Enemy?”
• Perspective & Foreshortening
Sample C&GN Workshop Lessons
Contact: Quintin Collins, Associate Director, Solstice Creative Writing Programs, [email protected]
C&GN GuestsWe also bring in comics & graphic narrative guests, who each offer their own craft and technique classes. Previous guests include: • Alexander Danner • Joel C. Gill • Sophie Goldstein • Paul Karasik • Marika McCoola • Bianca Stone