Environmental Comics

Participants will complete daily drawing exercises and develop a short multi-page story over the course of three days. They will learn different strategies for seeing ecological stories in the world around them and their own lives through observation and reflection. These will be done through the medium of comics and drawn sequential narratives. We will discuss how comics can offer a unique space for reflecting a complex world and one's personal voice.

Exercises will include outdoor observational drawing, collaborating with fellow participants on sequences, and imagining non-human perspectives.

Aidan Koch is an artist and graphic novelist who lives and works in Landers, California. Koch’s work has been featured in publications such the Paris Reveiw and New York Times, and she is the author of three book-length comics—The Whale, The Blonde Woman, and Impressions. She has served as a panelist in numerous comic art conferences and taught comics drawing workshops ranging from one day to two weeks at both wilderness preserves and academic institutions Her work emphasizes collaboration and experimentation rather than developing technical expertise in hopes that the participants gain conceptual tools for narrative they can grow.

Drawing materials (as preferred by participants): Pencils, color pencils, pens, color markers, watercolor, pastel

Paper: 8.5x11 as well as bristol or drawing paper

Clipboards