Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Guest at next month's Inaugural Australian Comic Arts Festival


Running February 20th - 21st in Canberra, and organised by the awesome Cath Brinkley and Comic creator/scholar Bruce Mutard. Many thanks for the invitation to attend. A whole host of Comic creators will be teaching development workshops on the Saturday 20th at the Novotel, including my good mates  Wolfgang Bylsma, Mark Sexton, Tristan Jones, Jason Franks, Julie Ditrich, Queenie Chan and Ryan Lindsay. I'm also looking forward to touching base with Louie Joyce, and meeting Thomas Campi. My partner Amanda Bacchi is a professional interviewer and panel host (for events such as OZ Comic-Con across the country, The Brisbane Zombie Walk etc.); she will be MC'ing a few panels on the weekend as well.

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Canberra next month, and hopefully an event which will continue to grow!

I have been approved to run 2 workshops available ( and I believe a third one on the Sunday for kids.)
"Sequential Narrative" and "Essence of a Panel", which will aim to condense information from classes I teach at The Queensland College of Art.

Info at the link: http://www.acaf.com.au/product-category/workshops/

Info on Sequential Narrative:

What goes on in the panels and between the gutters

"What makes up a narrative-driven comic book page? What happens between scenes? How do writers and artists utilise the medium of comics to tell stories?
By learning the ‘rules and tools’, and conventions of visual storytelling though case studies and examples, we can better understand the medium of comics, and how to improve as a visual storyteller and writer.
Whether you are simply interested in how the comic page communicates with the reader, or an aspiring/developing creator, the idea is better awareness of the possibilities of visual storytelling via comics, and noting prominent creators in the history of the medium."

Essence of a Panel

Empathetic characters, acting and illustration considerations

"You are the director. Your characters are your actors. Before a character utters a word in a speech balloon, your panel must convey the story visually. The importance of character considerations in writing/development of that story, and the visual representation of that character (from thumbnails and design to finished panel) are paramount to creating the empathy felt by the reader. Dynamic poses, how choices and structure conveys character, where to use subtle acting/poses, the importance of referencing, and how character relates to cinematic storytelling and the visual grammar of comics.
The aim of this workshop is to give attendees a better understanding of how to plan compositions in relation to character, who their characters are, and how to “show” and not just “tell” how a character is feeling.
The outcomes from this workshop will be to assist aspiring and developing pencillers/illustrators in telling stories visually, and also assist writers to understand story from a visual sense, particularly when approaching script in relation to character and conflict."
Posted on the Soldier Facebook page earlier:

ACAF (The Australian Comic Art Festival) Workshop panels in Canberra on the 20th of February are now available for...
Posted by The Soldier Legacy Comic Book on Wednesday, January 13, 2016