Blog Post
Comics Fundamentals: A six-week series starts July 6
by K.C.
Wednesdays, July 6 thru August 10 | 6:00-8:00 PM | Pittsfield | Grades 9-Adult
Join cartoonist Jerzy Drozd as he helps you explore illustration and storytelling strategies used by professional cartoonists to create graphic novels, manga, and comic books. Learn how to choose the right moments in your story, how comics take advantage of the rules of art and literature and how the illustration style you choose contributes to the tone of your work.
Basic supplies (pencils, erasers, paper, etc.) are provided along with a weekly gamecode to add to your summer game totals. No registration required.
Miss the first session? No problem. Jerzy has designed each session so you can quickly catch on.
Blog Post
Comic Book Academy starts July 5th
by K.C.
Tuesdays July 5 thru August 9 "> 1:00-3:00 PM "> Malletts Creek "> Grades 6-12
Hey teens! Enjoy doodling and have a story to tell? Join the six-week Comic Book Academy at Malletts Creek this summer. Cartoonist Jerzy Drozd will guide you through the steps to creating a complete comic book. You’ll learn about character design, writing the story, penciling the first draft, refining and completing the penciled pages, and inking (finishing) the pages.
All the supplies (pencils, erasers, paper, etc.) will be provided along with a weekly gamecode to add to your summer game totals. No registration required.
And if a six-week course isn't enough to satisfy the budding artist in you or you can't make it to all of the sessions, check out all of the comics events AADL has going on all summer long, including sessions with artists Denver Brubaker and Jannie Ho.
Blog Post
Kids Read Comics!
by anned
The Kids Read Comics Celebration kicks off this Friday, June 17, at 6pm at the Downtown AADL branch with a live comics reading by Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy, X-Men: Misfits) and Raina Telgemeier (SMILE, Baby-Sitters Club). Then at 8pm, Kevin Coppa will join Dave for a live performance of Dave Roman Presents: Avatar: The Last Puppetbender live!
The fun doesn't stop there! Saturday and Sunday (June 18-19), Kids Read Comics will take over downtown Chelsea with free events for comics lovers of all ages! Festivities begin at the Chelsea District Library at 10am, the event will also expand down Main Street to the Clocktower Commons, where shops and restaurants throughout the downtown business district will host artists and special activities from 10am to 8pm Saturday and noon to 6pm Sunday.
Events include:
Artists’ alleys where you can meet comics and animation professionals
Hands-on comics workshops
Art demos and discussions
Portfolio reviews for youth and teen artists
Opening reception for the Comics Jam! art exhibition at the River Gallery (Saturday at 6pm)
For preschoolers through preteens:
Costume parade
Superhero crafts
For teens:
Giant drawing wall and interactive art events
Cosplay classes and marketplace, plus Saturday evening costume contest and masquerade party
For teachers and librarians:
Professional development workshops on Sunday
See a complete list of events on the Kids Read Comics Programming page!
Blog Post
June's Books to Film
by muffy
Green Lantern is based on the grahic novel series by DC Comics. In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force call the Green Lantern Corps has been dependent upon as protectors of peace and intergalactic order. When a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power, the fate lies in the hands of Green Lantern's newest recruit, the first human ever selected to wear the ring that grants them superpower.
In Submarine, 15 year-old Oliver Tate has two big ambitions: to save his parents' marriage via carefully plotted intervention and to lose his virginity before his next birthday. Worried that his mom is having an affair, Oliver forges suggestive love letters from his Mom to his Dad. Meanwhile, Oliver attempts to woo his classmate, Jordana, a self-professed, bossy, pyromaniac who supervises his journal writing --- especially the bits about her. I look forward to this delightful adaptation from Joe Dunthorne's humorous and imaginative novel (2008).
Based on the The X-Men comics created by Stan Lee, the current box-office smash X-Men, First Class is set up as a prequel. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men, closest of friends, working together to prevent nuclear Armageddon.
Blog Post
Meanwhile...
by anned
Remember Choose Your Own Adventure books? Jason Shiga has created the ultimate interactive comic; YOU decide which flavor of ice cream Jimmy should eat, chocolate or vanilla. Choose wisely, the fate of the world is at stake. One of the choices leads Jimmy to Professor K., inventor of the Killitron 2000, the SQUID memory transfer device, and a time travel machine. Which path leads to the doomsday device and which to Ultima (the land of immortality)? Explore the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics as you follow the tubes and tabs to lead Jimmy through space and time. With 3,856 story possibilities, Meanwhile is the only book you'll need for that long summer road trip.
Blog Post
June 5 Comic Artists Forum
by K.C.
Sunday, June 5 -- 1:00-3:00 PM -- Downtown Multipurpose room -- Teens and Adults
Guest artist Erik Reichenbach, one of the final five of "Survivor: Micronesia," will discuss how to tear apart plot and story elements. Eric’s a Pinckney native and 2009 graduate of EMU. He is the creator of The Town of Tymes a kind of survivor story. Erik will start with a brief history of plot theory, discuss the cutting edge of post-modern writing, and relate how stories may be depicted visually by comic, photography, and even online.
Join the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in for drawing, learning, and sharing.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Doyle, Hergé, Peck
by marshd
May 22nd marks the birthday of authors Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Hergé, and M. Scott Peck.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer, most known for his stories of Sherlock Holmes. According to Wikipedia, there were 56 short stories and 4 novels about the detective written by Doyle.
Doyle's other works include those that focus on the character of Professor Challenger, and quite a few historical novels such as The White Company, which was set during the Hundred Years' War.
Hergé was a Belgian comic writer. His real name was Georges Prosper Remi, and you may know him if you've ever read a Tintin comic. We even have Tintin in the original French.
While Hergé also wrote a few other comics (Quick and Flupke, The Amiable Mr. Mops), copies of them are quite hard to find.
M. Scott Peck was an American author and psychiatrist. His most well-known book is The Road Less Traveled, about human fulfillment.
Peck's others works include Glimpses Of The Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts Of Possession, Exorcism, And Redemption and Denial Of The Soul: Spiritual And Medical Perspectives On Euthanasia And Mortality, two of his more spiritual works.
Blog Post
Comics!
by articia
Comics and comic book characters have always been popular with many but have more recently broken into the mainstream in a huge way. Because of the recent rise in popularity, many kids (and "kids at heart") are taking up an interest in comic books.
The Ann Arbor District Library has fantastic Graphic Novel collections in youth, teen, and the adult sections of all 5 library branches and also offer lots of neat programming involving comics, how to create them, and info about those who do.
Tomorrow, May 7th, 2001, is Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day - the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops around the world give away comic books to anyone who comes into their stores. Check out local comic book store, Vault of Midnight, and see what you can find!
And for those busy tomorrow that can't get out to Free Comic Book Day, check out this event in June: Kids Read Comics hosted at the The Chelsea District Library and throughout the downtown business district in June.
"Kids Read Comics Convention is a totally free event that unites kids, teens, parents, teachers and librarians with professional artists and writers from the comics and animation fields. Our goal is to introduce kids to worlds of imagination while unlocking their creative impulses, and to serve that goal, the convention features:
* hands-on workshops
* panels and presentations for kids, families, and educators
* a chance for kids to meet and chat with comics and animation professionals
* the opportunity for kids to have their own art portfolios reviewed"
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum in May
by K.C.
Sunday, May 1 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Downtown Multipurpose Room | Grade 6- Adult
Guest artist Michelangelo Cicerone creator of Ozone Jones will show you the secrets to drawing just about any cartoon or comic book character at this character design workshop. Learn how to create a personality for your character, too. No special skills required - just your imagination!
There will also be time for you to mingle with fellow cartoonists to talk about ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing tools and paper will be provided. Drop by for some learning, sharing and drawing.
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum with Denver Brubaker
by K.C.
Sunday, April 3 -- 1:00-3:00 PM -- Downtown -- 4th Floor Meeting Room
Celebrate the first birthday of the Tales of a Checkered Man web comic. Creator Denver Brubaker will talk about what’s happened with the comic and his website since it’s launch April 6, 2010.
Yes, there will be plenty of time to interact with your fellow cartoonists to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in for learning, sharing, and drawing.