Lecture/Going Back

I more or less just woke up after taking a nap, after speaking to three classes of 6th graders about comics.

The media specialist at Parkview Center School, my elementary alma matter, has been very proactive about exposing the kids there to graphic novels and comics, and has been very successful. She introduced me to one of the teachers, and we agreed on having me lecture about what I do, and to help impart useful tips in a unit they've been working on about comics.

I spent each hour explaining why "Nancy" and "Archie" (more on him later) are the essence of comics, exposed them to some awesome European artists, showed off some examples of my work, and gave a layman's explanation of composition, negative/positive space, and what happens in the gutter between the panels.

One of the things I enjoyed was randomly calling on students (especially the bored looking ones- though I tried to avoid being boring!) to explain why a page worked, or what drew their eye where. Some of the kids got it right away, others... didn't. But it was good fun.



In the middle, I had them do one of these (blank ones can be found at my website, www.comicartiststeve.com/). This one was actually drawn in by Don Rosa, who did the wonderful series, "The Life and Times of Uncle $crooge."

In Short, It was a blast!

On the other hand, I had not been in that building since 1998 (or so)(Parkview is a K-8 school). While most things look the same, the things that had changed were really apparent. The lectures were given in my old 3rd-grade homeroom, and in addition to the old Apple ][ and Lisa's being gone, the chalk board was covered by a SmartBoard. So basically, I could draw on top of my powerpoint presentation! How cool is that?

But what got to me emotionally was the trees.

In 1996 or so, the school made a big deal about planting various trees (Earth Day/Arbor Day/Peace Day...). These little saplings, which were tiny when I was a lad, have grown very tall, and very beautiful, in the many years since. It made me feel old, but in a good way.

OH! In other news, the Hudson book is done. Done-done. I finished and delivered it last Monday. Excitement...

TTYL!