Drawing Comics

Explore the art of creating comics, learning a creative process for crafting your own compelling graphic stories.

In this four-week course, you'll discover how to effectively balance text and imagery to produce a cohesive and engaging comic. You'll learn a creative process that involves scripting, thumbnailing, and draft-refining. By studying various examples and the language of comics, you'll gain a strong understanding of how to produce unique and expressive comic stories.

The course begins by exploring the power of facial expressions, body poses, and abstraction in conveying emotions. You'll then learn different panel transitions to control pacing and enhance your storytelling. From there, the course delves into non-linear narratives and traditional paneling techniques, exploring the relationship between space and time in comics. Finally, you'll learn how to generate new ideas for comics, draft them, and hone their story arcs. By the end of the course, you'll have developed the skills to create your own comic stories with a unique artistic style and narrative voice.

What you will learn:

✔ Recognize that comics are a form that allow you to tell any story using words and images
✔ Render facial expressions, body poses, and visual abstractions to convey a wide range of emotions
✔ Use various panel transitions and the concept of closure to control the pace and feeling of a story
✔ Draft and refine your own comic stories, incorporating scripting, thumbnailing, and understanding story arcs

Next Session

Jan. 12 - Feb. 8, 2026

Teen and adult sections

VIEW ALL DATES

Tuition

$299

Rates increases Jan. 1

Ages

Teens: Grades 6-12

Adult Learners: 18+

Expert guidance
Receive direct, personalized feedback from a professional artist.

Learn on your own schedule
Explore meaningful instruction in about five hours a week, over four weeks.

Collaborate
Work with your instructor and peers through messaging or optional real-time weekly classes.

Real growth
Develop artistic skills and projects that are important to you in 30 days.

Computer or mobile device with Internet and camera. Internet speed must be at least 1.5Mbps download and 800Kbps upload. For students using a mobile device, download the Canvas mobile app and select “Interlochen Online” as your school.
Pencil
Colored pencils
Paper
Any other supplies you want to draw and write with
Optional: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

No, course sections are designed for their respective age groups, either for adults (students 18 and older) or young people (students under 18).

Yes, there are eight sessions of courses per year. View the academic calendar for more session dates.

Interlochen Online certificate This is one of three courses needed to complete the Character Design and Comic Art certificate program.

Our online arts certificate programs are perfect for...

✔ Adults looking to boost their creative résumé and LinkedIn profile

✔ Teens who want to earn high school credit for their passion

Upon completion of the program, you will receive a physical certificate and a shareable digital certificate. Certificates for students under 18 are accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS); high school-age students will also receive an official transcript to share with their current school for consideration for high school credit.