Want to make comics? The library to the rescue!

Things are about to get graphic at St. Albert Place, but not in a bad way. The library is hosting a graphic novel workshop for teens this Saturday afternoon. If you ask presenter Jay Bardyla, however, the focus will have a slightly different tangent.

"How to make comics," clarified the owner of Edmonton's Happy Harbor Comics.

The first lesson: semantics.

"A graphic novel is a format within the medium of comics," Bardyla explained. "You don't teach someone how to make a graphic novel; you teach them how to make comics. If they choose to produce something in a graphic novel format, then that's what you can do. You have to know how to make comics before you can put it into any sort of format."

The library has a growing collection of this manner of illustrated materials. Search the term "graphic novel" on its newly-redesigned website and the results come back with more than 3,300 book titles, nearly 1,500 of which are geared toward teens. A few hundred less than that are in the children's section.

All are incredibly popular.

"It's a heavy circulating section," said teen services co-ordinator Geoff Manderscheid. "You always have kids going to that corner where the graphic novels are. There's an interest there. I think our shelves would literally bust if everyone returned their graphic novels at once."

Because of that popularity, it was high time to show the kids how it's done, he said.

"It's a presentation that encourages teens to see what graphic novel storytelling is," Manderscheid said. "It also educates them about that, so we sneak that in. It's a really unique opportunity. They're going to get insight into all of the different career paths in the industry of comics, whether you're writer, editor, proofreader, pencil and inker … those are all important. It's more than just tracing."

The basics

Everything starts with the basics, said Bardyla, who noted that libraries and other institutions tend to misuse the graphic novel terminology.

"The presentation that we do actually goes through and clarifies that. I say, 'These are the formats' then 'the word I'm going to use today is comics.' You make a comic. You publish it as a graphic novel, or a web comic or comic book or comic strip."

Interest in these kinds of courses usually comes from young adults, not teenagers, the target audience of the library's workshop. Teens often get discouraged from working within the medium so he makes it as friendly and accessible as possible.

The free session is run by Bardyla himself, along with two volunteer comic artists from the community: Kyle Sams and Daniel Schneider, both former artists in residence with Happy Harbor. Both are now also full-time comic artists.

This will be Schneider's second appearance at the library. He was there last July demonstrating his work and talking to the public during an ArtWalk event.

"For them to take their time out to talk to kids and meet kids, it's pretty significant," Bardyla said.

The session is adapted to suit the interested novice and the experienced artist who already has a portfolio of work.

Manderscheid already considers this event to be a huge success, and not just because it's a first for St. Albert. There are already five people who have pre-registered out of a possible maximum capacity of 30. Teens have a tendency to do things on the spur of the moment.

"I would love to have more. As far as teen programming goes, five kids already committed … is good. Usually they just show up or they don't bother registering."