I am a writer and illustrator (Lucy the Octopus, Adventure Time, Wallace & Gromit) with over five years experience at running workshops in making comics and graphic novels, in over over 110 venues including schools, colleges, museums, hospitals and libraries.
My previous workshops and talks have taken place at a variety of venues and events including The Cartoon Museum, Evelina Children’s Hospital, Greenwich Theatre, Discover Children's Centre, Poole Museum, Walthamstow Library, Cultivate Festival, Hammersmith & Fulham Adult Learning, Laydeez Do Comics, Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School and Cartoon County Brighton.
Workshops
Comic Creating Workshops are fantastic for engaging children, teenagers and adults in...
• Developing narratives
• Visualising ideas
• Self-Expression
• Learning new skills
• Creative collaboration
• Fun with a sense of achievement
I am happy to give talks and run workshops on making comics and graphic novels, covering character design, story telling, illustration, lettering, visualising ideas and self-publishing. I am able to plan sessions around your timetable and incorporate any themes you wish to focus on.
To give you an idea of the content of one of my workshops, a day long session (5 hours) might go roughly like this...
• Introduction to what a comic creator does and my own work (with accompanying images)
• Warm Up Creative Games / Exercises
• Character Development exercises and introduction (with accompanying slide show)
• Pupils develop and draw their own characters
• Story based games / exercises
• Story writing and planning
• Creating strip using pupil's own characters
Shorter workshops would focus on specific elements of this plan.
I'm also experienced and able to give talks and assemblies.
Travel:
I am London based but able to travel anywhere, both in the UK and Internationally.
Equipment needed
For me:
Flip chart or white board with working marker pens, or a calibrated smart board
Ideally a PC/projector to show a PDF images that I could bring on a USB stick or email over in advance
For the participants:
A4 paper, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners and coloured pencils
Copies of worksheets that I would email over in advance
Prices available upon request
Testimonials:
“Richy has delivered a number of workshops in our school and we have found him to be a highly professional and creative individual. Richy can be relied on to deliver enjoyable sessions and is able to engage young people from across the ability range and with diverse needs. ”
Maarten Crommelin, Deputy Headteacher, Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School
“The students really enjoyed Richy’s session, enthusiastically taking part in his workshop and listening attentively throughout. Many students were inspired by Richy to look into graphic novels and create their own after the session.
"
Emma Wallace, Senior Librarian, St Benedicts School, Ealing
“We all enjoyed Richy’s fantastic visit to The Forum, Southend. The event was well structured and fully enjoyed by our young visitors. Richy engaged completely and brought fun and learning in one brilliant session.”
Elizabeth Allen, Community Development Officer, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
"Richy’s easy and cheerful manner relaxed the participants so that their creative energies could be unleashed.
"
Elena Jessup, W.I.P Comics
Great fun for the students with well structured and engaging activities. Would love to have him back next year!
I have written and illustrated four published books, illustrated several others, created work for comic companies and run my own small press comic imprint.