teen Comics/manga studio at east portland community center
(This page is a work in progress)
Who Are We? The Teen Comics/Manga Studio class at East Portland Community Center is where youth ages 12-19 can find a space to ask, create, and share their artwork, learn how to create comics in paper and online, and be with like-minded individuals for constructive feedback and peer support. Currently, we are a class of about 12 students and meet for two hours every Friday during the school year. We have one awesome teacher and a dedicated volunteer (that would be me), both who used to be students of the Teen Comics/Manga Studio class. While we are together in class, we only have two rules: Don't be a jerk and please draw while we're together.
What We Do: The students of our class create comics and illustrations. We highly encourage our students to pursue their own artistic interests. No experience is required! It is not uncommon we get students who have never drawn before, but have wanted to.
Where Did We Start? The Teen Comics/Manga Studio class was started by Jake Richmond (creator of Modest Medusa, Ghost Kiss, colorist of Hereville) a long time ago. Jake was a teen when he started teaching our class. It originally started as a very small class of like-minded youth. Throughout the years, the class has changed locations many times, but the spirit of the class has stayed the same. It has been decades since then!
Our class was very sad when Jake felt it was time to let his teaching position go, as he went to continue his career as a comic book artist. Jake continues to be a person who's ready to help and give our students advice when we need it. Thank you, Jake! The torch was handed down to Josie, who graduated from the class and is the current teacher.
An Unmet Need in our Community: Over the years, we have heard from a number of comic book artists who are much our senior, they wished they had something like what we are doing as a class when they were teenagers. When we table at conventions, we get quite a handful of passing patrons who are genuinely intrigued when they see the ones who manage our table are teenagers. Moments like these tell us while we are quite small, we are doing something a bit different.
Why I Chose This Work: There are many reasons why I decided to highlight my volunteer work with the Teen Comics/Manga Studio class at East Portland Community Center, but I will try to condense them down into a short story.
I have been a volunteer for our class since 2009. I was 19 at the time and I joined our class the final year I was allowed in. Jake asked me if I had any stories I ever wanted to present as comics. I told him I did, but I didn't know how to draw at all, so I never felt inclined to do it. To start coming up with ideas, he then asked me if I read any comics or was inspired by any comics in particular. I told him I didn't read very many comics, because I never saw comics or cartoons that were about characters, situations, and/or issues I cared about.
Jake is the one who pushed me to start drawing and producing comics. He told something I still hold very dear: If I ever want to see comics I want to read, the best way is to make them myself.
After I aged out of the class, I thought to myself if this was something I really wanted to do. Well, I'm still here and happy!
I geared my college experiences towards social sciences. The farther I went through my curriculum, the more I began to realize what I was doing was significantly more important than when I was 19 and just wanted to stay with the class as a volunteer. The realization I was making a bigger impact than I thought I was making has contributed to my choice of becoming a long-time volunteer for the class. Watching the youth we have grow into promising artists who like what they draw and continue to improve inspires me to do the same.
What I Do: As the only volunteer of the class, I mostly do things to ease the small bumps we occasionally come across. This means I am the one running around East Portland Community Center on our class' behalf. Every once in awhile I will provide snacks for our youth.
What I see as more important tasks: Providing a voice of advocacy for our class and the work we do when our students are not present, being one of a handful of older individuals who are personally involved in what they're doing, being a former student who our students know identifies with them, and perhaps the most important task of physically and mentally being in the classroom with the students.
Fanaticon: In February of 2016, we hosted our very first student-run comic book convention! Our students came up with the name: Fanaticon. The mascot for Fanaticon was made by our own students.
Many comic book artists came to exhibit at our event. Many of the those who tabled live in Portland. Along with our students, they brought and showcased their work.
What We Do: The students of our class create comics and illustrations. We highly encourage our students to pursue their own artistic interests. No experience is required! It is not uncommon we get students who have never drawn before, but have wanted to.
Where Did We Start? The Teen Comics/Manga Studio class was started by Jake Richmond (creator of Modest Medusa, Ghost Kiss, colorist of Hereville) a long time ago. Jake was a teen when he started teaching our class. It originally started as a very small class of like-minded youth. Throughout the years, the class has changed locations many times, but the spirit of the class has stayed the same. It has been decades since then!
Our class was very sad when Jake felt it was time to let his teaching position go, as he went to continue his career as a comic book artist. Jake continues to be a person who's ready to help and give our students advice when we need it. Thank you, Jake! The torch was handed down to Josie, who graduated from the class and is the current teacher.
An Unmet Need in our Community: Over the years, we have heard from a number of comic book artists who are much our senior, they wished they had something like what we are doing as a class when they were teenagers. When we table at conventions, we get quite a handful of passing patrons who are genuinely intrigued when they see the ones who manage our table are teenagers. Moments like these tell us while we are quite small, we are doing something a bit different.
Why I Chose This Work: There are many reasons why I decided to highlight my volunteer work with the Teen Comics/Manga Studio class at East Portland Community Center, but I will try to condense them down into a short story.
I have been a volunteer for our class since 2009. I was 19 at the time and I joined our class the final year I was allowed in. Jake asked me if I had any stories I ever wanted to present as comics. I told him I did, but I didn't know how to draw at all, so I never felt inclined to do it. To start coming up with ideas, he then asked me if I read any comics or was inspired by any comics in particular. I told him I didn't read very many comics, because I never saw comics or cartoons that were about characters, situations, and/or issues I cared about.
Jake is the one who pushed me to start drawing and producing comics. He told something I still hold very dear: If I ever want to see comics I want to read, the best way is to make them myself.
After I aged out of the class, I thought to myself if this was something I really wanted to do. Well, I'm still here and happy!
I geared my college experiences towards social sciences. The farther I went through my curriculum, the more I began to realize what I was doing was significantly more important than when I was 19 and just wanted to stay with the class as a volunteer. The realization I was making a bigger impact than I thought I was making has contributed to my choice of becoming a long-time volunteer for the class. Watching the youth we have grow into promising artists who like what they draw and continue to improve inspires me to do the same.
What I Do: As the only volunteer of the class, I mostly do things to ease the small bumps we occasionally come across. This means I am the one running around East Portland Community Center on our class' behalf. Every once in awhile I will provide snacks for our youth.
What I see as more important tasks: Providing a voice of advocacy for our class and the work we do when our students are not present, being one of a handful of older individuals who are personally involved in what they're doing, being a former student who our students know identifies with them, and perhaps the most important task of physically and mentally being in the classroom with the students.
Fanaticon: In February of 2016, we hosted our very first student-run comic book convention! Our students came up with the name: Fanaticon. The mascot for Fanaticon was made by our own students.
Many comic book artists came to exhibit at our event. Many of the those who tabled live in Portland. Along with our students, they brought and showcased their work.
Our students have tabled at conventions before, but in the common case where we traveled to conventions to be part of the indie comics community, we wanted to host our own event and bring pieces of the indie comics community to our class and to East Portland Community Center.
There were many types of experiences Fanaticon provided. Our students got to learn what it's like to table at a comic book convention and how to manage a comic book convention. They were also able to practice business and social skills, such as handling money, tracking sales, counting inventory, directing patrons to our event, and answering questions about Fanaticon and what our class does.
Our first student-run comic book convention was a four hours long. We counted about 150 patrons who walked in and looked to see what our event had to offer. We received very positive feedback for a first time event and everyone had a wonderful time! We had an unforgettable and fun experience running and being a part of Fanaticon.
Please join us for our second year of Fanaticon on February 11th & 12th, 2017!
There were many types of experiences Fanaticon provided. Our students got to learn what it's like to table at a comic book convention and how to manage a comic book convention. They were also able to practice business and social skills, such as handling money, tracking sales, counting inventory, directing patrons to our event, and answering questions about Fanaticon and what our class does.
Our first student-run comic book convention was a four hours long. We counted about 150 patrons who walked in and looked to see what our event had to offer. We received very positive feedback for a first time event and everyone had a wonderful time! We had an unforgettable and fun experience running and being a part of Fanaticon.
Please join us for our second year of Fanaticon on February 11th & 12th, 2017!