About

Art & Story is a weekly podcast where two cartoonists share their experiences making comics and try to wrap their brains around the larger ideas behind their chosen art form. They are published creators, they also self-publish, they make webcomics, and they lead comics workshops. You can email them at artandstory-AT-gmail-DOT-com.

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Comics, graphic novels, and manga enjoy a more widespread popularity amongst students than ever. Is it a fad, or does comics offer something more profound that speaks to young people?
In 2007 Jerzy participated in the ArtServe Michigan s Literacy Arts  Comic Book Project as a teaching artist. He witnessed first hand the deep links between literacy and art as students described as unmotivated readers  demonstrated a sophisticated visual vocabulary and a palpable enthusiasm for delineating story through images.
When reading comics, a reader infers what happens between  the panels to construct the overall story, as well as predicts the outcome of a story based on the author s choices of moment. Exploring comics affords students the opportunity to express sophisticated ideas through images, improving reading fluency and comprehension.

Both Mark and Jerzy are available to lead comics workshops at your local library, school, or university. Click the links below to download a PDF flier with more details. Low Res (Ebook format) 600KB High Res (Printable) 6.7MB
You can download a PDF sample lesson plan used in one of their workshops below. High Res (Printable) 2MB

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The Teaching Artists

Mark Rudolph holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Arts and is the creator of several independent comics works, including the slice-of-life graphic novel Closing Doors, which was featured in a documentary of the same name airing on PBS, chronicling the decline of independently-owned music stores. His true love is the spirit of comics made in the 1960s and early 70s, as evidenced by his all ages comics Mulligan’s Run and The Galactic League of Marshals, both found on his CV Comics web site. He also leads workshops about the craft of making comics.

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Jerzy Drozd began his comics illustration career at 19, self-publishing his own comic books. He is the contributing editor of Sugary Serials, a comics anthology that specializes in all-ages comics serialized online and collected in print. In 2006 he completed his 197-page online graphic novel, The Front, a retelling of the first comics story he self-published. Drozd’s main passion has always been comics, and he enjoys sharing his enthusiasm with others. In 2005 he began performing workshops at schools and universities. He worked with ArtServe Michigan on their Literacy Arts Comic Book Project, teaching the comics art form to Detroit 3rd and 4th graders. He recently lead a professional development workshop for teachers at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.