Making Comics Workshop

Join cartoonist, Cara Bean, in this hands-on, visual thinking, mindfulness workshop. Cara walks participants through a series of creative exercises intended to lessen anxiety, build confidence, and grow creativity. Together, you’ll go over the basics of communicative drawing (stick figures allowed!) and develop the skills needed to doodle as a form of play and problem-solving. No prior art experience is required.

"I begin my workshops with introductions and an open conversation about the benefits of drawing. Then we get in the zone by warming up together drawing and by making collaborative doodles that become characters. Next, we dive into making simple comics with some improvised world-building and story development. If time permits, we celebrate together by reading our comics."

Workshop Benefits:

• Tap into your artistic self - accept that doodling is always available for everyone - embrace the unique way that we draw

• Activate your innate brain power - stimulate free-thinking - foster creativity

• Experience mindfulness - reduce stress - improve concentration

• Build community - give and receive peer encouragement - make personal connections

Cartoonist and art educator Cara Bean is the author of Draw 500 Funny Faces and Features and Let’s Talk About It: A Graphic Guide to Mental Health. Cara is passionate about drawing and believes that the simple act of doodling on paper can lead to the investigation of complex ideas. An art teacher for thirteen years at Lexington High School, Cara holds an MFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Washington in Seattle and received a certificate in cartooning from the Sequential Artists Workshop in Gainesville, Florida. She is working on a long-form graphic work titled Here I Am, I Am Me that speaks directly to kids about mental health and will be published by Workman Press in April 2024.