ART 4928C - Fall 2026 - Franklin

For CRW majors, this class counts as a 4000-level workshop.

In his book, “Understanding Comics,” Scott McCloud defined comics, “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” Like a traditional written narrative or piece of art, the graphic narrative (GN) and comic should evoke a sensual response from the reader/viewer but does so with both text and visual art. In this class you will create your own visual narratives. (I differentiate the terms “graphic novel” and “graphic narrative.” “Graphic novel” implies fiction because of “novel.” “Graphic narrative” is a broader term, encompassing both works of fiction and non-fiction. I will often use “comics” interchangeable with “graphic narrative.”)

The Graphic Narrative Workshop is composed of writers and visual artists and has a focus of collaboration. Visual artists are not required to have a writing background, and writers are not required to have an art background, but an important part of this class is to discover the language of your “other” creative art. One of my goals is for writers to do some art and artists to do some writing.

You will study graphic narratives, comics and books on craft and create stand-alone works of graphic narrative. You will discuss your own creative projects and processes.