What’s better than making comics? Helping other people make comics!

We’ve been busy running comics workshops (like, structured comics making) and drop-in activities (like, have a go and stay as long as you like). Here are some photos of comics-in-progress and some finished comics too.

From our Spineless half-term workshops at the Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle:

From our Creepy Crawly Comics workshops at Cramlington Library and Morpeth Library, as part of the Spellbound events series (thanks Spellbound for letting us share photos from your Facebook page):

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/spellboundworkshops

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/spellboundworkshops

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/spellboundworkshops

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/spellboundworkshops

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/spellboundworkshops

From our comics making and an exhibition of pages from our comic Asteroid Belter as part of Discover Science Through Comics, organised by the BritishScience Association West Yorkshire Branch, in Leeds:

 

Most comics creators were mysteriously anonymous and didn't put their names on their comics. If you spot your comic here, let us know and we'll gladly add your name to it. 

Mega thanks to our workshop co-facilitators Michael Jeffries and Emily Rose Lambert (for Spineless at GNM: Hancock), and Jack Fallows (in Leeds).

Yeah SCIENCE! Yeah COMICS! As always, we love to see your science comics – keep in touch!

Half-term family comics workshops

Attention all Spineless comic fans!

Join our FREE drop-in comics making workshops at Great North Museum Hancock this half term.

On Saturday 24th, Monday 26th, and Friday 30th October we'll have comics making activities from 11am-3pm.  Come and work with comics artists to draw your own comics, all with a Spineless invertebrates, minibeasts and bugs theme.

These drop-in activities are for children age 6-11, with their families. You're welcome to stay for as long or short a time as you'd like - just turn up on the day, there's no need to book.

Want to make a day of it? Here's a link to other Spineless activities at Great North Museum: Hancock https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/whats-on.

Well now that was informative.

Here’s a quick roundup after our infographics workshop at Newcastle City Library as part of the Comics Chaos festival on Saturday 9^th August 2014.

We used examples from digital and print media to identify exactly what what makes good, bad, and misleading infographics.  Our infographicers were great at spotting what it is that makes an infographic a infographic. 

Then we focussed on what comics can teach us about combining words and pictures.  Yes, panel grids are part of this, and there’s a heck of a lot more besides. 

By the time it came to making their own infographics our infographicers (if I keep writing it it’ll become a real word, right?) were rather too good at, umm, not exactly telling lies with information, but certainly being selective about what they chose to emphasise.

Thanks go to our anonymous evaluation form filler-inners for the positive and encouraging feedback.  This is a workshop we can adjust to fit different groups’ needs*, so your comments will help with the fine tuning. 

Thanks also go to our friends at Newcastle City Library for coordinating the Comics Chaos Festival.  There are other comics events for children and for adults throughout August – pick up a festival guide at the library for more information.

Thanks also also go to our friends at CCCCCCC (The Canny Comic Con Comic Chaos Creative Collaboration).  @CannyComicCon’s twitter feed has a rundown of cracking ideas for comics to read, as a good and true record of the Best Comic You’ve Never Read debate. 

*aye, that’s an advert.  You’re welcome to get in touch to to discuss the comics + science (or comics + scientists) workshops we could run for you.  We have many, we do bespoke workshops, and we'll have a web page all about them soon.

Sparks Science Collider

Sparks North East are running a Science Collider, you say?  Heck yes we're interested!

We'll be running a workshop for scientists, researchers, physical/digital makers, artists, and anyone else who takes part in the Science Collider.  This aims to get collaborations off to a sparky start: collaborators will come in not knowing what data they'll be playing with or who they'll be collaborating with, so we'll focus on how comics can help them get started and keep things on track.

Contact Sparks North East for FREE event tickets.  This is an 18+ event.