When the Mirror Manifests: Writing Autobiography in Comics
10:30 – 12:30 | Workshop #1 by Chad Bilyeu
Writer and publisher Chad Bilyeu will guide participants through an innovative twist on the classic questions of worldbuilding: Who, Where, When, What and – most importantly –Why? The workshop will focus on a number of technical aspects, such as: developing a three-act structure – exposition, midpoint and denouement – drawing a storyboard and making transitions from one scene to the next, as well as making use of the “gutter” – the gaps between panels. The third issue of the Chad in Amsterdam series – The Dutch Inquisition – will be utilised as a template for exercises in scriptwriting.
Lunch
12:45 – 13:30
Graphic Cities, Clashes of Flesh and Concrete
13:45 – 14:45 | Lecture by Joost Pollmann
Joost Pollmann – aka The Strip Professor – will give a talk on the juxtaposition between the sensual body and the hardness of urban surroundings, walking the avenues of several graphic novels through the years, including the novel-in-woodcuts The City/La Ville by Frans Masereel (1925), Yukiko’s Spinach by Frédéric Boilet (2002) and How I tried to be a good person/Hoe ik probeerde een goed mens te zijn by Ulli Lust (2019). In these narratives, the protagonists’ quest for either companionship or an erotic experience is not only framed by the architecture of the city but also by the architecture of the comic format itself: boxes everywhere, with humans wandering inside or in between. The talk will be centred on the graphic novel as an art form where exuberant urban scenery is navigated and sensuous adventures are discovered.
Meet You In My Drawings
15:00 – 17:00 | Workshop #2 by Eva Hilhorst
The second workshop, hosted by graphic journalist Eva Hilhorst, is divided into two parts. As a starting point, Eva will speak on the language of comics. Drawings can literally animate a narrative, enlivening the details with multi-layered, mysterious and sensuous nuance. Taking a series of strips about internet dating as illustrative examples, such as Ruby Riveter by Maia Matches and More if it Clicks by Dominique Goblet and Kai Pfeiffer, as well as pieces from Drawing the Times, the international platform for graphic journalism, Eva will demonstrate how to adapt work for online formats. The digital sphere offers up an expansive realm for artists and a multitude of tools to experiment with, including animation. For the latter part of the workshop, you’ll master how to design your own comic for a digital publication, and to play boldly with form, colour, rhythm, cliffhangers, suggestion and suspense. Together with Eva, you’ll ponder identity and storytelling online, considering how we present and construct ourselves and our romantic entanglements in the virtual world.
The lecture and workshops are taught in English.
€ 36,00 – 2 Workshops + Lecture + Lunch (full programme)
€ 26,00 – Workshop #1 + Lecture + Lunch
€ 26,00 – Workshop #2 + Lecture + Lunch
€ 8,50 – Lecture