The Year Long Program Syllabus

SAW Year Long Program Syllabus

We run three courses at a time, for 6 weeks and then 2 more weeks to create an assignment based on the courses. Then, we do another 3 courses concurrently.

The course work is asynchronous, but we do have several live calls a week to help understand the course work and exercises.

What to expect from the coursework, week by week

Quarter 1

Week 1 - Topics

• Storytelling - The Narrative Image
  Drawing for Comics - Drawing the Figure in Gesture
  Hidden History - Distribution

EXERCISES: 

• Storytelling - 3 narrative images
  Drawing for Comics - 3 gestures from photos, 3 gestures from chart
  Hidden History - Answers in community

Week 2

• Storytelling - Playing with Time
  Drawing for Comics - Drawing the Face and Expressions
  Hidden History - Underground, Queer and International Comics

EXERCISES: 

• Storytelling - storytelling "sequence in time" exercise. 
  Drawing for Comics - 2 personal expression, 3 heads from photos, 6 invented heads
  Hidden History - Active discussion in community
  

Week 3

TOPICS:

• Storytelling - Silent Stories
  Drawing for Comics - Putting People in Spaces
  Hidden History - Archie Comics and Kids Comics
  

• EXERCISES: 

• Storytelling - Silent Diary Comics
  Drawing for Comics -  TBD
   Hidden History - Active discussion in community

Week 4

• TOPICS: 
  Storytelling - Page Design
  Drawing for Comics - Character Design
  Hidden History - Political, Propaganda and Informative Comics

• EXERCISES:Storytelling - A previous story reimagined on the page
  Drawing for Comics - A narrative image from a fairy tale in color and shape only
  Hidden History - Active discussion in community
  

Week 5

• Storytelling - Story and Simple Story Structure
  Drawing for Comics - Backgrounds!
  Hidden History - Zines and Memoir

• EXERCISES:

• Storytelling - What is the problem to be solved?
  Drawing for Comics - TBD
  Hidden History - Active discussion in community
  

Week 6 - INTEGRATION

• Storytelling + Drawing for Comics - Integration and Final Assignment
  Hidden History - Innovation and Comics as Poetry

• Work weeks:  mid to late October

Work on final assignment, Dialogue with the Past.

Quarter 2

Week 1

Ideas and Vision - Your Visual Pulse

Hundreds of Panels - Vocabulary of Drawing

Modern Comics Exploration - Intro to Modern Comics Exploration

Exercises:

Ideas and Vision - Your Visual Pulse

Hundreds of Panels  - TBD

Week 2

Ideas and Vision - Your Personal Store

Hundreds of Panels  - Creating Space

Modern Comics Exploration - Autobiography

Exercises:

Ideas and Vision - 100 Nouns, Draw Some Nouns

Hundreds of Panels  - Details 1 of 3 (Ruin or Cave), Details that work, details that don't

Week 3 - Topics

Ideas and Vision - Storytelling Vinyasa Part 1 - Gathering + Developing Ideas

Hundreds of Panels  - Clutter and Clarity

Modern Comics Exploration - Manga Aesthetics

Exercises:

Ideas and Vision - Gathering Ideas, Developing the Idea

Hundreds of Panels  - TBD

Week 4 - Topics

Ideas and Vision - Storytelling Vinyasa Part  2 - Expanding and Editing Ideas

Hundreds of Panels  - Mark Making, Describing Textures of Things

Modern Comics Exploration - TBD

Exercises:

Ideas and Vision - Continue our story from last week

Hundreds of Panels  - TBD

Week 5

Ideas and Vision - Making your Stories and Strips Personal

Hundreds of Panels  - Groupings, Crowds and Windows Through Time

Modern Comics Exploration - Combatting Marginality

Exercises:

Ideas and Vision - Variety of exercises are live in the presentation.

Hundreds of Panels  - From the Outside Looking In

Week 6

Ideas and Vision / Depth and Details - Integration and Final AssignmentModern Comics Exploration - An Image in a Ruin

Break until first week of January

LETTERING AND GUTTERS WEEK - first week January

QUARTER 3

Week 1

Comics Frontiers -  Reading Order Unravelled 

Finishing Decisions - Working in Pencil

Markets, Art and Practice - Art: Why Art? And more.

Exercises:

Comics Frontiers: Polyominos

Finishing Decisions: Submit a panel finished in pencil. 

Markets, Art + Practice: Why Art? And your Origin Story and Through- Line -

Week 2

Comics Frontiers - Voice and Tone in Narration

Finishing Decisions - Working in ink

Markets, Art and Practice - Presenting Your Work and Talking about Your Practice -

Exercises:

Comics Frontiers- Voice and Tone in narration. you can do this with the video or with the video-

Finishing Decisions - Submit a finished panel in ink or ink wash

Markets, Art and Practice - You are a Graphic Novelist

Week 3

Comics Frontiers - You Can't Do This in the Movies!

Finishing Decisions - Finishing in Paint -

Markets, Art and Practice - Setting Goals and Meeting Deadlines

Exercises

Comics Frontiers - You Can't Do This in the Movies!

Finishing Decisions - Complete a panel in paint

Markets, Art and Practice - Plan your Q4 assignment -

Week 4

PHOTO COLLAGE in COMICS FRONTIERS!

Finishing Decisions is about working digitally! 

Markets Art and Practice:

EXERCISES:

Comics Frontiers: Photocollage

Finishing Decisions: Submit a panel digitally for web and print:

Markets, Art + Practice: Discuss where you read comics in the network, and where submissions might happen

Week 5

Comics Frontiers is called Discord and Rhyme 

Finishing Decisions: Working digtal and analog in combination

Markets, Art + Practice 

Exercises:

Comics Frontiers: Discord and Rhyme: A personal story using Nancy panels as a visual metaphor: 

Finishing Decisions Exercise: Submit a panel that is a combination of analog and digital:

No exercise in Markets, Art and Practice, just keep the conversation going!

Week 6

Comics Frontiers - Exploring Formats, and Integration Assignment

Finishing Decisions - Planning Zines and Booklets, and Integration Assignment

Markets, Art and Practice - Life after school - maintaining a practice and comics community

QUARTER 4 Mid March - June 1 - Cohort mentoring and final assignment! -