Organise your own comic art summer camp!

By John Freeman on March 31, 2023

Comic Art Europe, a project that tries to unite comics artists and organisations all over Europe, has released information about its successful Comic Art Summer Camps, hoping it will act as guidance to anyone seeking to run a similar project or projects.

During the last three years, Bowness-in-Windermere-based Lakes International Comic Art Festival has been a part of Comic Art Europe here in the UK. One of the goals of CAE was to create a training and development programme for young comic artists and students across Europe.

During the summer of 2021 and 2022, Barcelona-based Escola Joso, Centre de Còmic i Arts Visuals and the Centre Belge de la Bande-Dessinée (the Belgium Comic Strip Centre), in Brussels, put this into action by organising two summer camps.

During these camps, students spent a week together taking part in workshops learning how to make it in the world of comics. The main goal of the camps was to give an overview of and advice on how to establish oneself professionally in the field of international comics, liaising with publishers etc.

The Comic Art Europe Project researched different aspects of these summer camps: which parts were successful, which parts were less useful? These findings were recorded down in detailed reports.

Both reports on the two Summer Camps are now available to read on the Comic Art Europe website. By sharing this information, CAE and its partners hope to help out other organisations to organise similar camps, or share ideas, to help young artists to take their first steps into the professional world.

Comic Art Europe is supported by four organisations from across the continent – Lyon BD, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Escola Joso, Centre de Còmic i Arts Visuals and Centre Belge de la Bande-Dessinée (the Belgium Comic Strip Centre) – with the support of the European Union program “Creative Europe”.

• Check it out on the Comic Art Europe website – comicarteurope.eu/summer-camp-report/

• For more information about the work and plans of Comic Art Europe, visit comicarteurope.eu | Find Comic Art Europe on Facebook

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.