You can make your graphic novel ideas come alive.

In this abbreviated version of our popular Comics For Writers Course, you’ll learn the basics of how comics work, and how it differs from writing, and from writing + illustration.

You learn how pictures work, how pictures + text work, and what you or your artist needs to know!

By learning the basics you can learn to make your graphic novel soar!

Comics For Writers is an abbreviated version of our curriculum designed for scholars, historians, memoirists, journalists, storytellers and writers of all kinds looking to expand into graphic novels or short-form comics.

This is an online, continuous-running, self-paced course taught by Tom Hart, New York Times #1 Bestselling graphic novelist and founder of SAW—the Sequential Artists Workshop—in Gainesville, Florida.

If you have a story that you’d like to tell graphically, Comics for Writers will teach you what you need to know to make the transition!

Start any time and proceed at whatever speed works for you.

Want a sample?
Click Here for my free booklet, You Can't Do This in the Movies

Welcome!

Comics For Writers collects what I’ve taught for 16 years and smushes it down to digestible chunk, who are used to words and ideas, but just starting to work with images, visual narrative and design.

I won't teach you to draw, but I'll teach you to plan the drawings, (whether those will be finished by you or someone else), to think about your visuals and to craft your story through comics. 

This course is self-paced. Start any time and proceed at whatever speed you like.




F.A.Q.

Is this a self-guided course or is there a community aspect?
This course is self-guided but includes access to a "Mighty Network" group of people working on this and other courses. There have been lots of great work posted already!

Tom Hart will not respond to every post, or maybe he will!

Where will the community be contained?
You can see it, here: 

https://members.sawcomics.org/topics/1368208

Is there a free trial?
Yes there is!

What materials will I need?
Pens, pencils, whatever you’re comfortable with. Printer paper or sketchbook. You'll need at least one page of your own prose, or something you'd like to adapt anyway.

What's the final outcome of the course?
We will have completed 3 exercises and learned loads to get you on your way to mastering comics. 

How much of this is in the full Comics For Writers Course?
I’d say this represents about 15-20% of the full course! In the other course, you’re getting loads more presentations, more insight, and more guided exercises.

Can I get a discount if I decide to get the full Comics For Writers?
Yep! When you complete this course, you’ll get a coupon for the full price of this course OFF the full version. I’d love to see you there!

Any more questions, email [email protected]

What's inside?

  • 11 Videos

  • 7 Texts

  • 5 PDFs

  • 2 Hours

Course curriculum

    1. Video Intro to Section 1

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. Simple Actions, Simple Text Info and Assignment #1 TEXT Format

    3. Simple Actions, Simple Text Info and Assignment #2 TEXT Format

    1. Video Introduction to Section 2

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. Time Through The Panels Info and Assignment TEXT Format

    3. Time Through The Panels WORKSHOP Video

    4. BONUS - Steve Canyon Multi-Panel Exercise VIDEO

    1. Video Intro to Section 3

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. Thinking With Your Artist Info and Assignment TEXT Format

    3. Disney Storytelling Handout PDF

    4. Staging Video

    5. Wally Wood 22 Panels PDF

    6. BONUS: A Quick Look at Visual References VIDEO

    7. Bonus: Visual Vocabulary and Metaphor

    8. The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan 8-page script PDF Resource

    1. Video Intro to Section 4

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. Page Design Info and Assignment TEXT Format

    3. Page Compositions Video 1

    4. Page Compositions Video 2

    1. Finished text!

About this course

  • $79.00
  • 27 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

Pricing options

Testimonials

“I was fortunate to discover SAW as a resource for working on my graphic history, Perpetua's Journey. Tom Hart was an incredible teacher and our lessons discussed how to make my project, a prison diary, come to life in sequential art. Tom has said that creating comics is all about "writing, drawing, thinking, history, and responding," and we discussed all of these topics during my lessons.”

About the instructor

Tom Hart
Tom Hart
Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop



Tom Hart is a cartoonist has been the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop, a school and arts organization in Gainesville, Florida since 2012.

His 2016 memoir, Rosalie Lightning, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and was featured on many Best-Of-2016 lists.

His Hutch Owen series of graphic novels and books, were nominated for all the major industry awards. His The Collected Hutch Owenwas nominated for best graphic novel in 2000. He was an early recipient of a Xeric Grant for self-publishing cartoonists, and has been on many best-of lists in the Comics Journal and other comix publications. He has been called “One of the great underrated cartoonists of our time” by Eddie Campbell and “One of my favorite cartoonists of the decade” by Scott McCloud. His daily Hutch Owen comic strip ran for 2 years in newspapers in New York and Boston, and his “Ali’s House”, co-created with Margo Dabaie was picked up by King Features Syndicate.

He was a core instructor at New York City’s School of Visual Arts for 10 years, teaching cartooning to undergraduates, working adults and teens alike. Among his students were Dash Shaw, Sarah Glidden Box Brown and other published cartoonists like Leslie Stein, Jessica Fink,Josh Bayer, Brendan Leachand many others. He has taught comix and sequential art at schools and institutions all around New York City for more than 10 years, and has conducted week-long workshops from Maine to Hawaii. He also teaches sequential art in the School of Art and Art History at UF.

A couple other recent books:
Daddy Lightning
Let’s Get Furious
The Sequential Artists Workshop Guide to Making Professional Comic Strips

His website is http://www.tomhart.net