Carmine Magazine: For readers that are unfamiliar with The Create a Comic Project, how would you describe it?
The Create a Comic Project: The Create a Comic Project is a youth program that combines art and creative writing to stimulate interest in self-expression among school children. As the name implies, I rely on sequential art – comics – as the primary medium. I’ve designed the project for kids aged 8-12, though I have worked with teens on occasion.

I walk students through the facets of comic creation – page layout, word bubbles, captions, etc. – and introduce basic storytelling techniques. Students create two kids of comics: filling in empty word bubbles on existing comics and original strips with blank panel layouts. The former serves as a guide to the latter; students see how various artists compose their work and gain exposure to the myriad of art styles. Over a hundred different artists have given me permission to use their work for the project, including David Willis (Shortpacked), Erin Ptah (And Shine Heaven Now), Faith Erin Hicks (Ice, Demonology 101), and Kazu Kibuishi (Copper).

Currently, I’m working with the Collegiate YMCA of Pittsburgh and their after-school program to deliver weekly sessions. I’ve held one-shot workshops at several locations, including the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Braddock Carnegie Library, and Human Service Center.

CM: How did this project begin and why was it started?
TCaCP: The Create a Comic Project started out in an overseas classroom. In summer 2005, I was in Taiwan teaching English. The activities in the curriculum focused on spelling and grammar – there weren’t any that explored the creative side of the language. Inspiration came from two sources: the popularity of manga among my students and Yukihime’s Penny Arcade Remix (http://goviolet.com/?page_id=633), which steered me to the idea of using webcomics.

The first comic I used was Okashina Okashi (http://www.strangecandy.net), a pastiche of many of the manga elements my students were fond of. The results were fairly spectacular: my students loved to compete in teams to see who could create the funniest – and most grammatically correct – comics. The place where I worked ended up publishing the activity so other teachers across the island could use it in their own classes.

A few months later, I returned stateside for graduate school in New Haven, CT. The public library needed volunteers and I missed teaching, so I retooled the project into a standalone creative writing and art program. That’s how the project’s been used ever since.

(J. Baird with one of his students during one one of the New Haven Library sessions.)

CM: Why do you feel that his project is important and unique?
TCaCP: It’s important because it bridges two social phenomena: a growing interest in comic books – especially manga – among young people and an increasing need for creative literacy education, as opposed to the ineffective “learn by rote” method so commonly employed.

There’s also the outreach aspect: by making kids aware of how to express themselves through art, they may be more likely to do so when they get older. A big issue in comics today is the relatively small presence of minority creators, so this is my way of helping out a little.

I would love to say it’s the first of its kind to do so, but there have been several other efforts to combine comics and education, such as Michael Bitz’s Comic Book Project (http://www.comicbookproject.org) and a Maryland initiative to use graphic novels in the classroom. Still, comics are largely underrated in American society (a point Scott McCloud makes quite often) and I think there’s a lot of potential uses for them that have yet to be thoroughly explored.

CM: What has been your best experience with this project? And the worst?
TCaCP: My best experience was with one student, “Z.” She attended close to every session at New Haven and was always brimming with ideas. Her mom worked at the library, so we’d meet up in the Children’s Department before and after the sessions, as well, with me serving as a sounding board for her story outlines. She loved making comics so much that she started her own webcomic series, “Moosey Moose and Gosh” (http://www.mooseyandgosh.com). If I can inspire more children like her, I’ll have really accomplished something.

The worst experience is harder to identify. I’ve generally had positive feedback from everyone I’ve worked with and the parents have all been very supportive. If I had to pin down a worse moment, it’d probably be one student I encountered at the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center (DYCLC).

I was doing a 4 week workshop there and she entered in one the second week. Far from being interested in the activity, she bothered the other students and made a number of racist remarks aimed at me. I managed to have her barred from the center after that and the remaining two workshops went well. Still, it stings whenever I have to tell a student they can’t participate due to their bad behavior.

Ironically, during those workshops I was also working with kids from a local at-risk juvenile center (basically a high school for troubled teens). None of them gave me any problems at all and some even took to mentoring the younger children.

(This is a picture of “Z” who he mention in the article. It was taken during the second Comic Making Tournament, which is the project’s big annual event.)

CM: How can our readers get involved with the project?
TCaCP: Readers can get involved by taking some time to volunteer! I’ve posted materials on the project’s website they can use to start their own art and writing program. All they need to do is print it out, find a group of kids, and walk them though making a comic or some other art form they’re familiar with.

Another way to help is by making their art available for use in the project. While I mainly use comics, single frame images, such as sketches or paintings, can be adapted. Having an online gallery is important for this. Since the project is educational and not-for-profit, Fair Use applies to everything, but I still like to get permission from people before I use their work.


CM: Do you have any major goals for this project? Anything you would like to see happen in 2009?
TCaCP: I have a few goals I’d love to accomplish. Reaching out to educators is very important to me and I’m exploring ways to bring the project back into the classroom. I have a series of comic project publications (http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=2190513) aimed at educators and parents and I’m hoping to make more material available that way.

Networking with more comic artists is another goal. Conventions are a wonderful place to meet them and a lot of fun to attend. At Otakon 2008, for example, Mookie (Dominic Deegan), Jennie Breeden (Devil’s Panties), Bill Holbrook (Kevin & Kell), Gina Biggs (Red String), and others all approved the use of their art. I’ve been invited to hold a workshop at Pittsburgh’s Tekkoshocon 2009 in April; hopefully I’ll meet some new people there. Gary Tyrrell of Fleen (http://www.fleen.com) deserves credit for being a great help.

And like any good artist, I’m always trying to improve. I’m always scouring the web for more tips on comic making to share with my students. I find the major challenge is balancing theory with practice: too much theory and it becomes a lecture that bores the students, too little theory and the kids can miss concepts that might help them improve their practice. This is similar to the balancing act every teacher in the country faces every day.

(One of the student created comics from the official site.)

CM: Anything else you would like our readers to know and remember about the project?
TCaCP: The Create a Comic Project is something anyone can do – I would really encourage people to try their own version. Find a location where a lot of disadvantaged children gather, such as a library or community center, and start something. Or lend assistance to an existing program. Every child that’s reached is another potential great mind whose spark could be ignited.

Webcomic artists tend to be some of the nicest people around. As soon as I mention my work with children, they haven’t hesitated to lend me their art. Compare this to newspaper comics where, as one person told me, if I tried using them they’d probably serve me with a Cease & Desist. I think this marks a positive generational shift in attention to copyright, in terms of being willing to share one’s intellectual property to help others in need.

The application of comics to learning has only been lightly explored. Reading and writing are both obvious uses, but what about other fields? I’ve used the project to explore health education a couple times now, but I can see comic-based curriculum materials used in things like math and science. I hope others might start thinking about how to accomplish this.

For more information on The Create a Comic Project, please visit the official website: http://ccproject.comicgenesis.com/.

(This was one of the largest sessions he had while at New Haven. It shows how diverse the audience was in that venue.)

(This is from the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center. The boy is holding a template based on the webcomic “xkcd.”)

(This is from a workshop he held at Northview Elementary; two groups of about 100 kids each.)

(This shows kids from the YMCA Summer Camp. It’s how he started working with the group.)

(This is from the YMCA After-school Program at Sunnyside Elementary.)