ARTS-201

ARTS-201-A ST: Comics and Storytelling Studio
4 Credits; Offered Fall 2025
M. Lux

This studio course utilizes the language of comics to tell compelling visual stories. Through hands-on drawing practice, looking at comics together, discussing student works in critique, and lectures/demonstrations, students will learn strategies for creating worlds and settings, advancing plot, building characters, conveying emotion, and communicating visually. Traditional drawing skills may be useful, but aren't strictly necessary for telling powerful, interesting, and creative stories in a visual form. Instead, the course emphasizes components of storytelling like pacing, layout, cropping and composition, the relationship of text and image, and editing, in the service of developing each student's personal, expressive voice. Note: Course meetings will occur at the Washington State Penitentiary. The class will be composed of incarcerated and non-incarcerated students. Students must follow all rules and guidelines of the Penitentiary. Consent of the instructor is required, and students must also submit to, and pass, a criminal background check conducted by the Penitentiary. All semester, the course will meet at a non-standard time. Interested students should contact the instructor as soon as possible. Recommended prerequisite: previous studio art at the college level encouraged, but not required. Required prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Fee: none. Distribution areas: Fine Arts, Creative Production.