PVCC Comic Jam: A Six-Hour Dive Into Collaborative Storytelling

On Saturday, Dec. 2, the PVCC Art Department is holding an event where anyone interested in comics can get together for an exercise in collaborative art and storytelling. This event is the Comic Jam, and it will last from noon to 6 p.m. in room 117 of the Dickinson Building.

Assistant Professor of Art Aaron Miller will be hosting the event and explains how it will run. “The basic structure is that we usually bring in a bunch of pages that have these little panels, like pre-drawn on them. And one person will just fill in a panel, and they’ll draw whatever they feel like. They’ll add whatever text that they want, and they’ll pass the whole sheet to the next person who will fill in the next panel,” Miller said. Through this improvisational structure, participants will work together to produce 12-panel comic strips where a wide variety of artistic styles and creative visions flow together to form one narrative.

To accompany the creation of comics, Miller will bring several published comics for people to read and potentially draw inspiration from. He also urges participants to bring snacks to keep themselves fed while they work and says he plans to order some pizzas near the end of the Comic Jam.

Finished comics will be gathered together into a PDF which all participants will receive and can share with friends and family. According to Miller, some comics may be featured in a future arts newsletter (which is emailed out to the whole college). Once there is a large enough number of comics, the PVCC gallery may also have a show for them.

Anyone is welcome to drop by the event (whether they are currently enrolled or not), stay for as much of the event as they want, and take part in the collaborative art and story of the Comic Jam.

“It’s very random, but we get a lot of like quirky, interesting, weird stories and it makes it [comic drawing] a little bit less of a solitary experience,” Miller said.