Week One: First Assignment

We will begin this week with a number of in-class writing exercises and an opportunity to go over the requirements of the class and set some personal goals for what you would like to get from this semester. Please bring your notebook computer to class along with something with which to write and draw. The course will focus on writing comics for digital media because this is the most important form of independent publishing today. Because of this, direct digital input is the recommended approach to drawing/writing comics in class. So if you use a drawing tablet for input bring it with you. 

Please create a blog for this class where you can post the scripts, scenarios and comics you make this semester.  Send me the url for your blog, indicating that you are in the Writing for Comics class, so I can link the course blog to your blog.

I have a reading assignment I am asking you to do before we meet which consists of reading several adaptions of short stories into 50 page graphic novels. These are posted on the course resource page in both cbr and pdf formats. If you want to read the cbr (comic book reader) format, you need to download a program or app that can read that format. There are several available and many are free.

I am not so much interested in what the stories I am asking you to read are about, but rather how they are telling the stories they tell. There are seven of them and each takes a different approach in style, narrative breakdown, paneling, etc. to tell the story. Read enough of each story so that you get an idea of how it is being told. Post notes, even single words, on your blog that describe each story you read. We will compare these notes in class.

I am in the process of recoding my website to make it more accessible to smart phones and ipads. So it will look rough and will change frequently for the first few weeks as I break-in my new site.

You can visit the beginnings of the new site design here

http://www.ringling.edu/~dsteilin

The links will take you through to the Writing for Comics course. The new syllabus will be mounted next week, after I have a chance to meet with you as a group. You can use the link above or to the left to navigate to the old syllabus from the last time the course was taught.

You can go directly to the course resource page by using the link in the course links box.