I had a great time on Saturday, meeting kids at the Manga Club in Purley Library and running a workshop there on writing comics.
I’d heard good things about the club as my friends Chie Kutsuwada, Inko and Karen Rubins have all run workshops there before. It’s enthusiastically run by Jayson Arago. He’s created a perfect fun environment for kids to meet and talk about their passion for Manga, Anime, Cosplay and gaming.
Here’s the space ready to go….
How many libraries offer folders full of Manga reference material, eh?!
I wanted to talk about developing original ideas for stories. The kids had fun using their skills to write six different endings for the same newspaper strip.
There were a lot of Pokemon references (no bad thing in my book)…
The pic below illustrated the obstacles characters must face in their stories, and how finding solutions makes the story!
One boy in the group added the Health Points bars – nice touch!
To end the workshop, the children all made their own comic pages. The stories were based on their own Saturday mornings, often with a few fantasy elements thrown in…
They had a really good grasp of visual language. I love the tummy rumbling here, an effective way to show the character’s wants and needs.
This story below was a beautiful poetic take on not having enough time to get things done…
There were some great Mangaka in the group…
Thanks Purley Manga Club! Stop on by at my table when I’m at a con some time!
