AA 193NThe Craft of Comics

3 credits · Arts and Architecture · Penn State

This course combines the literary analysis of comics and graphic novels with the creative practice of making comics. Students will learn through an integrated and ongoing process of interpreting select comics texts and also making their own work in that same medium. Students will gain a technical vocabulary for discussing and assessing comics, which they will then apply to formal analysis of compositional and narrative elements in select assigned texts. This analysis will occur first in class discussion, facilitated by the instructors, and then through a sequence of individual written assignments. At the same time, students will receive formal instruction in making comics as they create their own work over the course of the semester, workshopping with peers and instructors as a way of gaining further insight into the creative and technical processes of the studied texts. Formal analysis and creative work will be coordinated and progressive across the course of the semester. The culmination of this collaborative learning would be an integrated understanding and appreciation of comics art.