Waltham St Lawrence Primary School

One of my favourite days of comic workshops this year was back in March when I visited a lovely school called Waltham St Lawrence Primary School in Twyford.

Teacher Zoe Cubbage was incredibly helpful on the day and was kind enough to send some comments from the children…

“Richy’s drawings were very good, especially when he drew the boy’s hair.” Thomas
“He inspired me to also write comics as well!” Hannah
“I liked when he drew pictures for the classes.”  Lettie
“He had a very good imagination.”  Beth
“He does very good guinea pigs pooing out rainbows with a top hat.”  Dominic
“I want to be an artist and he inspired me to become one.” Poppy
“He is really funny.” Jared
“He is really talented.” Emily
“He knows how to put the pictures together so there are no gaps.  This was quite clever.”  Matilda
“He did better drawings so now I do better drawings because he inspired me.” Harriet
“He has a good growth mind set.” Azaan
“He has the best drawings that I have seen so far.” Jack R
“I really enjoyed having him here.” Jack B
“I think his comics were really funny.” Amelie
“I really enjoyed the day and I will never forget it.” Jessica
“I think he is really good at drawing and he has inspired me to have a go.”  Vinnie
“He taught me a new way of drawing.” Callum
“He is the best drawer in the world!” All of Skylar

Zoe also sent some copies of some of their amazing comics strips.  It’s wonderful to see what the pupils could achieve after just one short workshop.  Enjoy!

Leon… waltham-leon

Sarah…waltham-sarah

Unknown artist…waltham-unknown

Dom…waltham-Dom

Hannah…
waltham-hannah

Harriet…
waltham-harriet

Lettie…waltham-lettie
Matilda…waltham-matildaThis Kiss by unknown creator… waltham-The-kiss
Thomas D…waltham-Thomas-D

Woodside High School Comic Workshops

In March I had the pleasure of visiting Woodside High School in North London to run a couple of comic making workshops with some very talented students, chatting about my work and finding out who was already reading any comics…woodside-01Soon the participants were developing their own characters thinking about how the look of someone starts to tell that person’s story…woodside-01.1woodside-0.12 woodside-02There were some great drawings and ideas, including depictions of very angry teachers…woodside-03 woodside-04 woodside-05 woodside-06I finished off each workshop suggesting how the characters could feature in their own short comic strip…woodside-07

Comics at North London Collegiate School

I had a great time yesterday visiting the North London Collegiate School in Edgware.NCLS-01It’s an impressive place, dating back to 1850 when it was the first school for girls in the UK and also the first school with a  headmistress.  I had a look at some of the A-level art on display – an incredibly high standard showing so many creative ideas.

One sure sign of a good school is the range of comics and graphic novels in the school library!  This didn’t disappoint as Terence Chan, the Senior School Librarian explained he’d had help selecting the titles from my friend and collaborator Steven Walsh of Gosh Comics.  Nice to see Francesca Dare’s Penny Blackfeather there amongst the goodies!
NCLS-02Nice to see I was expected…
NCLS-11Really pleased at the reception of my comics masterclass
NCLS-03NCLS-04NCLS-05NCLS-06NCLS-07NCLS-08NCLS-09NCLS-10…and my talk on my work as a comics freelancer and self-publisher!    NCLS-12NCLS-13NCLS-14NCLS-15NCLS-16 Now the students are working on three panel comic strips for a competition which I’m looking forward to judging!