This past Monday I experienced something I’ve haven’t experienced yet in my nearly one year as a youth & teen librarian, I had twice as many boys at a program than girls. *Gasp!*
All it took was bringing in a local comic book artist and pizza. Anthony Oropeza the creator of the Amigoman comic book visited our library to do a comic book drawing class. He presented on how his character was created and what inspired him to create the Latin Avenger. Several kids who attended my program are working on their own comic books so he talked about what goes into producing a comic book.
The second half of his presentation was showing the kids how to draw comic book characters. Most of them are already really good artists and thought that going back to square one to draw a face was frustrating but in the end I know they were really proud of themselves.
Overall, it was a great program. I know the pizza brought in a couple of kids who weren’t that interested in drawing but like comic books and had a good time. As far as how much this program cost, it was along the lines of some of my more expensive craft programs. Between the artist and pizza it came in just over $100.
You probably have comic book artists in your town and I highly recommend doing this sort of program. We’ll have Anthony back for a more extensive drawing program because there are definitely interested teens.
I’m bringing in a graphic artist this summer as part of the summer reading program. I hope it’s as successful as your event. I have high hopes since I know so many teens who read and draw comic book style.