Thanks for picking up this making-things-themed comic! To activate it: just solder it to an Arduino, hook it up to your Raspberry Pi, and..
Nah, I jest. Comics are simple. Pictures in sequence, that’s all. They can be about anything. If you want to make a comic, all you need is a pen and paper.
So: make comics.
Sure, it helps to get better at drawing, at using the ‘visual language’ of comics, at the technical side of putting them together, and so on, but you don’t need that to start with; all you really need is a pen and paper.
That’s the ethos behind the Paper Jam Comics Collective, the plucky bunch of creatives who put this publication together.
This is the thirteenth themed comic anthology they’ve made since they started back in 2007 – that adds up to nearly four hundred pages (and that’s not including all their jam comics, twenty-four-minute comics, general doodling, nor the vast array of comics produced by Paperjammers individually).
I didn’t really expect that when I hesitantly sidled into that first meeting, but it’s a testament to the human desire to create and the accessibility of comics as a medium in which to do it that we made it this far.
The results can vary from freewheeling nonsense (take the draw-a-panel-pass-it-on jam comic about cardboard, Easter eggs etc later in this comic as an example) to profound insights into the human condition that transcend written language; but the making of PJCC comics is always entertaining and driven by a DIY spirit.
So the PJCC urges you: make comics.
And if you’re over 18 and want to talk about comics and maybe make some with like-minded folks, get along to a Paper Jam meeting – the second Thursday of each month, from 6.30pm at Travelling Man comic shop, Newcastle. Everyone’s super friendly and it’s totally free (PJCC is entirely non-profit – all money raised from selling comics goes straight back into printing/selling our next one).
There is no formality, no expected standard of experience – from newbies to veteran comic-makers, it’s just folks who like comics.
You like comics, right? So make comics.
Cover design by Paul Thompson
Welcome page by Oscillating Brow. Back cover photography by Jamie Wilkinson. Production by Britt Coxon.
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Wider Panels can be used to indicate a changeof scene
The width of a panel is relative to the amount of time passing
For action sequences consider narrow, choppy panels
