Blog

After the last few book reports were presented, we began our workshop process. Based on the last assignment in Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice, we are all working during…

Week nine featured the long-awaited student book reports! Each student chose a graphic memoir on their own or from a pile I brought into class. Reported titles included:    …

Just back from New York. and an inspiring symposium sponsored by Columbia University. The goal of the half-day event, Out of the Frame, was to explore, according to co-organizer Marsha…

This week was the greatly anticipated Tool Workshop Day. The goal of the class was for the students to go from station to station, trying out the tools of the…

In Week Seven we covered a chapter each from Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Are You My Mother. We watched Alison discuss her work with Hillary Chute whilst we were…

First a word about my students. They are knocking it out of the park, every one of them. This is a group of undergrads who claim to have never created…

This week in class we’ll be discussing David Small’s graphic memoir, Stitches. We’ll discuss Small’s rationale for creating Stitches, the approach he took to doing so, and his advice to…

There’s been quite an uprising in the Comic Nurse fan base regarding the absence of photos of the week. Losing my most cherished subject clearly took a toll on this…

I’ve been a big fan of Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice since my pal Ian convinced me to take it seriously. (“I don’t believe in how-to books for comic making” was…

This week in class we’ll be discussing Sarah Leavitt’s fantastic memoir, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me. Students will also be presenting their work done in the…

This week we’ll continue our exploration of the graphic memoir work of Lynda Barry. We have all read One! Hundred! Demons!  We’ll discuss it from two perspectives – form and…

After a successful get-to-meet-you class one which involved the pushing of many crayons, tonight we’ll dive into the drawing side of images in graphic memoir. I planned this week’s agenda…

I’m very, very pleased to say that this evening I will start teaching my first full undergraduate course, “Writing and Drawing the Graphic Memoir” at Columbia College in Chicago, where…

Nerdette – just discovered this one. Women, homework, comics, culture, awesomeness originating from Chicago. Sawbones – a marital tour of misguided medicine. That sums it up. Very funny and informative. Professor…

Here are a few of my favorite quotes heard at conferences in 2013, recalled via my sketchbook entries. Two from the Narrative Medicine conference in London:   From the Comics…

From the most enjoyable moment category: I’m overwhelmed by and grateful for how many enjoyable moments 2013 held. I’ll tell the story of just one. During the three week trip…

Since graduating from college in 1989, I’ve been doing a version of this questionnaire every year. Care to play along?   The most enjoyable moments of the past year were:…