Comics / Graphic Novel
The IPRC's Comics / Graphic Novel track is the only comprehensive program of its kind on the West Coast.
Coursework takes place over three semesters, with an emphasis on developing skills and tools, broadening sources of influence and inspiration, and DIY publishing. Through intensive peer workshops and contact with instructors, students are encouraged to take artistic risks and develop their own unique voice and style.
Fall Semester 2013 (Skills and Peer Workshop Semester):
- Cartoon/Graphic Novel Workshop Seminar with John Isaacson and Nicole J. Georges. Will meet once a week for three hours.
- Guest lectures with notable local cartoonists.
Spring Semester 2014 (Comics Development Semester):
- World Comics Workshop with Lisa Mangum and Dunja Jankovic.
Summer 2014 Publishing and Production Semester (comics track only):
- Comics Production and Publishing Workshop. Students will learn production and self-publishing techniques, screenprinting, important pre-press layout skills, and much more. Each participant will produce a modest print run of their own comic.
Summer Comics Semester will also include:
- Five hour letterpress workshop
- Screenprinting Workshop taught by John Isaacson in the IPRC's new screenprinting studio
- Tour of local printing companies, such as Brown Printing
- Perfect-binding machine Workshop with B.T. Livermore
- Beginning and advanced Indesign instruction
*Note: This schedule is subject to change
The Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund
As many of you know, our dear friend and Comics Program Instructor Dylan Williams passed away after a long struggle with cancer.
Dylan was a longtime member of the IPRC, but became more intensely involved after we launched our Certificate Program in Comics/Graphic Novels in 2009. He was absolutely instrumental in shaping this program; along with teaching workshops like Comics Production and World Comics, he helped us create a progressive, inclusive curriculum with a focus on empowering students to develop their own unique style and voice, rather than following any sort of formulaic script. He was also passionate about exposing students to the rich history of the comics art form, as well as contemporary comics/graphic novels from around the globe.
Spirit and Enthusiasm
Dylan was an exceptional teacher. His enthusiasm for the comics art form was electric; he often wheeled in a box of forty or fifty comics to share with students during a single class period. He had an egalitarian, ego-free style of teaching, one that always placed students, rather than the instructor, at the center of attention. The amount of time and care he gave to each student--and his ability to understand individual needs and nuances--were also exceptional. It wasn't unusual to find Dylan seated next to a student in the computer lab or at the drawing table, several hours before or after class, providing gentle guidance and support.
Passing the Torch
Dylan will be sorely missed, but his ideas and creative spirit will certainly live on through the IPRC's Comics Program.
To honor Dylan and his contributions to the Center, we've created the Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will be awarded each year to an IPRC Comics Program applicant, based on a combination of artistic promise and need, and will cover their entire tuition for a full year of study. Along with our Comics Program instructors, Dylan's wife Emily Nilsson will sit on future award selection committees.
The Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund Recipients
Karissa Sakumoto (2012/13)
The IPRC's Comics Certificate Program is pleased to announce Karissa Sakumoto as the 2012/2013 Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund recipient. Karissa is our youngest incoming Comics Program student; she graduated from high school in Tacoma, Washington in 2010, and currently attends Portland Community College. She's been drawing cartoons her entire life. She began printing self-published comics about two years ago, and currently helps out with Snakebomb Comix. Karissa's creative work displays a unique vision and a rich sense of humor, and we're thrilled to welcome her to the 2012/13 Comics Certificate Program.
Moises Keymolen (2011)
Thanks to a generous contribution by an anonymous donor, we're very pleased to offer the inaugural Dylan Williams Scholarship to incoming student Moises Keymolen. Having just graduated from Roosevelt High, Moises is the youngest student in this year's Comics Program. His artwork shows a great deal of promise and an unconventional sense of humor that Dylan would have loved. Hearing the surprise and excitement in Moises' voice after we informed him of the award was a a serious bright spot in an otherwise difficult time.
Our aim is to offer this award every year for the foreseeable future. To do so, we're reaching out for support from the community. You can make your own tax-deductible contribution to the Dylan Williams Scholarship via NETWORK FOR GOOD, where you can chose to make a one-time donation, or set up a recurring monthly, quarterly, or annual donations. Under the "Designation" field please type in "The Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund."
Pay By Check
If you prefer to contribute by check, they can be made out to "IPRC" and sent directly to:
The Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund
C/O The Independent Publishing
Resource Center
917 SW Oak St. #218
Portland, OR 97205
Non-Monetary Donations
If you'd prefer to contribute in a creative, non-monetary way, IPRC volunteer Christina "Blue" Crow is compiling a tribute zine to Dylan entitled Life Eternal, and is currently seeking submissions. Proceeds from the sale of Life Eternal will benefit the Dylan Williams Scholarship Fund.Thank you for your support, and for helping us preserve Dylan's rich legacy as an artist, teacher and wonderfully inspiring individual.
Instructor and Guest Lecturer Bios
Dylan Williams (Honorary Instructor/Program Co-Founder) started out self-publishing comics and zines in the 1980s. He created the series Horse, Crime Clinic and the comic strip, Hey Granpa. He was also a founding member of the Puppy Toss comic collective in Berkeley, California. His life work was a comic book series called Reporter. He also founded and operated the proudly independent publishing and distribution company, Sparkplug Comics—an enterprise that his wife Emily Nilsson now continues.
Nicole J. Georges is a zinester, illustrator, and pet portrait artist. Nicole has been publishing her own zines and autobiographical comics for over fourteen years, the most recent of which, Invincible Summer, has been collected into an anthology and released as two volumes (from Tugboat Press and Microcosm Publishing). Her graphic novel, CALLING DR. LAURA, was released by Houghton Mifflin in 2012.
Lisa Mangum is co-editor of the anthology GAZETA: Comics from Bangkok to Belgrade; historian and scholar of East European comics; contributing author of ”Stripovi: Contemporary Comics in Croatia in Serbia;” and member of Balkan comics collective Komikaze. She studied animation at Evergreen and CalArts and International Studies at the University of Washington. She’s currently writing a graduate thesis on underground comix in Serbia and working on her own comic The Hunting Years.
John Isaacson is the author of the graphic novel DIY SCREENPRINTING. He also teaches writing and comics through Literary Arts' Writers in the Schools program.
Dunja Jankovich is a Croatian-born artist and a co-founder of both the Skver! festival and The Projects. She earned an MFA from the School For Visual Arts in New York; her work has been widely published and displayed throughout Europe the the United States.
Craig Thompson (Past Guest Lecturer) is the author of Goodbye Chunky Rice and Blankets, and is currently finishing the much-anticipated Habibi. He has received the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards for Best Graphic Novel and Best Cartoonist.
