With superhero movies everywhere, video games becoming more mainstream, and general nerd lifestyle becoming popular through mass media, it’s no surprise that comic books are making a huge surge in popularity. Even Camosun has jumped on this and has a program dedicated to graphic novel and comic book design.
There is now also a comic book club started by the students in the program.
The club accepts everyone as members, no matter if they’re in the Comics and Graphic Novels program or not, or if they can draw or not. One of the organizers of the Comics Club, Audrey Greenlees, says that more goes on in the club than just their program work.
“We get together and talk about the latest things we’ve been reading and the animes people are watching,” she says. “Last semester, things were really casual. This semester, we’ve been trying to get fundraising started. We’re hoping to contribute toward the Camosun Comic Arts Festival that’s happening in April.”
Some feel that people are born with a natural talent to draw, paint, or sculpt. Greenlees says that while she had a little talent before she came to college, the program at Camosun has helped her to refine her ability.
“When I first started at Camosun I was a creative writing student,” she says. “I found that although through writing I could be very descriptive, [my ideas] never came out quite right on the page with just words. I just started to take my drawing ability and mash them all together. Many of the other club members have similar stories; they come because of their love of video games or comic books.”
Fellow club and program member Lorysa Fernandez says that she’d love to see more people who are interested in comic design take a chance and try out the program and the club.
“There are so many people that I’ve met and as soon as I say what program I’m in, they sound so interested, but then they say that they can’t draw,” says Fernandez. “The truth is, not everyone can draw, but I’ve seen some great storytellers who’ve figured out how to get their story across and work around that. We really hate the notion that art is a natural born talent, because that’s not true. It’s a skill, and we definitely want to show people if you want to learn how to draw, just start.”
Being one of the leaders of the club doesn’t come without its responsibilities for Greenlees. The transition from easy club days to fundraising has been quite the change for her.
“Leading the club is a lot of cat herding,” she says. “Last semester was a little more casual. This semester I’m starting to jump through a lot more hoops to get things done, and that’s proving to be a little bit of a learning curve. Other than that, it’s not too much different from being a regular member, just a few more papers to read.”
Fernandez says that she feels that the emphasis on sharing ideas and working together on projects brings a valuable dynamic to comic design that she wouldn’t be able to get if she were to work on her ideas by herself.
“It’s one thing to look at something you don’t like and say, ‘I hate you, you’re going into a lock box, I’ll pull you out in three years when I decide I don’t hate you anymore.’ You can’t do that when you’re collaborating; the other person is relying on your part of the work. Collaborating is one of the most important parts of this, and why I would say that being in the environment of like-minded people helps a lot. I already know I want to do some animation work with a couple of others once we are done the program.”