It’s funny how many cartoonists came out with books this past year or so on how to create comics. The big one was Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud’s The Cartoonist Club. Which was an amazing book, won a bunch of awards, and coupled with the others on the market there seems to be a concerted effort to get kids drawing and not just typing prompts into some Skynet precursor AI.🙄
When I started working at Comic Carnival a colleague and I talked about putting together a meet up to get people to draw. We fashioned it after the “Cartoonist Club” and after she left, I decided to still run with it. So the third Thursday of the month, I move a few racks around to make room for some small tables and from 5:30 to 7:00 we sit around and draw. We could go longer, but the shop closes at 8:00 and I want to give us time to clean up.
The group size fluctuates and the ages tend to skew towards those younger, but we get together and draw- each to our own abilities and using whatever tools we want. The shop provides paper and pencils, along with crayons, and colored pencils. We also have cookies- because drawing takes a lot of energy. Admittedly these aren’t the yummy Kaiju Cookies the shop normally sells, but I can’t afford giving those to people. 🙄 Last night it was sugar cookies decorated with Jack o’Lanterns.
For the most part we draw, and maybe chit chat, but as you know, most people who draw tend to be a bit more on the introverted side. We’ve talked about putting something together to showcase our work, but the club is still just figuring things out. Most participants like the idea, but don’t want the pressure of having to draw something for others… we’ll get there. For now it’s more draw and chill.
Typically people come in with ideas, and just work on characters or pieces they already have started. For those who don’t have an idea I start by getting out Steve Jackson Games old RPG Toon written by Warren Spector & Greg Costikyan. A newer version is in the works, but I still have my original book with tables to help create characters. Species Tables (Species, Silly Species, Really Silly Species, Unbelievably Silly Species), and the Occupation Table. Two d6 later the person who had no idea what to draw is trying to draw a Llama that is an Accountant. I’ve been using it for years when I teach cartooning. With the younger participants we do have to modify some of the roles, since they either no longer exist or are jobs they have no clue about. I’m hoping the newer version will update some of these things.
Being the one who runs it, sometimes we have to skip a month which can be hard. Weather, and school holidays also can be a problem. That said, I’m still there drawing away trying different things and helping attendees if they have questions about how to draw something or need some inspiration.
Next time we get together will be November 19th, if you are in the area, join us and have a cookie!
