A total of 20 would-be artists participated in the Manga and graphic novels workshop at the Vandercook Lake Lions Club Community Building on Thursday. The program was presented by the Jackson District Library.
By Jeff Steers
JTV News
(July 14, 2022 8:54 PM) Artist Mark Crilley created his own 33-page comic in hopes that a publisher would love his work.
When a New Jersey publisher loved his work, a new career was created.
Crilley was in Jackson on Thursday performing a pair of manga and graphic novel workshops. Crilley, from Detroit, spent the morning at Warner Elementary School in Spring Arbor and held a workshop in Vandercook Lake at the Lions Club Community Center in the afternoon.
The programs were presented by the Jackson District Library.
He encouraged artists to create his/her own characters.
“I created my own comic … a combination of the Wizard of Oz meets Star Wars,” Crilley told the audience in Vandercook Lake. “I used my spare time to create something that can be published.
“Create that thing … make that story.”
Crilley graduated from Kalamazoo College with a degree in art and moved to Taiwan and Japan to teach English. In college he befriended David Small, a children’s book writer and illustrator.
Akiko is an American comic book created by Crilley that spawned a series of children novel.
Crilley went on to created Miki Falls and Brody’s Ghost. He has published a number of books on how-to-draw books and YouTube videos.
The term Manga refers to Japanese comic books, the series of which are often made into Japanese cartoons, or anime.
Crilley took those in the workshop through a series of drawing exercises to draw Manga figures and create a storyboard.
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