Graphic Novel Book Club 2024-25. Palo Alto City Library . 2nd Thursday of the month. 7 – 8:30 PM
Facilitator: Danièle Archambault, Ph.D.
Graphic Novel Book Club 2024-25
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Les personnages féminins dans mes BD – Female characters in my comics
Journée internationale des femmes 2024 – International Women’s Day 2024
Creating and publishing a collaborative graphic novel.
This adult class will run at the Palo Alto Art Center, from Jan. 16 to March 19 2024, Tuesday nights, 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
This semester, in the Visual Storytelling class, you will be creating and publishing a collaborative graphic novel.
In this fun, relaxed and friendly class, we will focus on how to turn a story into a compelling narrative, applying the fundamentals of visual storytelling: storyboarding, thumbnailing, character design, picture composition, camera angles, layout, etc. Additional topics include narrative art techniques, book layout, cover design, promotion, and publishing. Participants collaborate to organize their individual story into a cohesive digital graphic novel followed by an exhibition in the Art Center Studio Gallery
You may use the traditional media of your choice or digital tools (you must bring your own laptop/tablet and be familiar with your equipment.)
This is a great class for beginners as well as skilled writers/illustrators. Even if you took this class before, you can participate again and get the opportunity to get another of your stories into a collaborative book and an exposition.
You can register in person at the Palo Alto Art Center, by phone (650) 329-2366 or online by following this link:
Register online
Best,
Danièle Archambault, Ph.D.
Linguist and cartoonist
The Art of Visual Storytelling Class
Graphic novels, travel diaries, comic poetry, children’s books, and more. Weekly in-class projects will let you explore, in a relaxed and friendly setting, various forms of visual storytelling.
A 10-week class for adults at the Palo Alto Art Center.
Class starts on January 10 and is limited to 12 students. Students can choose to work with traditional or digital tools (must bring own laptop-tablet).
Calendrier de l’Avent et du temps des Fêtes
Un calendrier de l’Avent qui s’étire jusqu’au temps des Fêtes. Pourquoi pas?
Le Calendrier de l’Avent et du temps des Fêtes regroupe une collection de petites histoires en bandes dessinées et d’illustrations tirées de mes albums BD, mes cartes de vœux ou encore mes calendriers. D’abord publié en ligne en 2019 sur Facebook et Twitter, chaque jour de décembre et les six premiers jours de janvier, le calendrier est maintenant offert en album BD papier.
Un album à lire par soi-même ou en famille, À savourer un soir à la fois ou à dévorer d’un seul coup. Chaque jour, une illustration et un texte d’accompagnement qui racontent un souvenir, une fête, une tradition. Les textes sont courts, j’ai préféré laisser parler les images et les illustrations. Celles-ci sont souvent des extraits de la série BD Histoires d’escaliers qui met en scène deux jeunes enfants francophones, Doudou et Danny, ainsi que leurs amis, dans le Québec de la Grande Noirceur, les dernières années précédant la Révolution tranquille. Le Québec est encore très marqué par la religion catholique, mais de grands changements sociaux sont en cours. Les enfants de la série Histoires d’escaliers vivent dans le quartier Villeray, à Montréal à la fin des années 1950.
Le temps de l’Avent. En ce qui concerne les rites liturgiques catholiques, l’Avent est un temps de préparation à la grande fête religieuse de Noël. Un temps d’attente, de prières et de pénitence qui ne débute pas nécessairement le 1er décembre. En effet, l’Avent commence le 4e dimanche avant Noël et s’étend sur quatre semaines. Sa durée varie donc entre 22 et 28 jours. Cependant, dans le cadre de ce livre, le temps de l’Avent, comme pour beaucoup de calendriers de ce type, commence le premier décembre et finit le 24.
Le temps des Fêtes. Traditionnellement, le temps des Fêtes signifie la période de réjouissances qui commence la veille de Noël, le soir du 24 décembre et se termine avec l’Épiphanie (la fête des Rois), le 6 janvier. J’ai choisi d’écrire les mots « Avent » et « Fêtes » avec des majuscules, ce qui était d’usage courant dans les années 1950. L’Office québécois de la langue française nous indique que ces mots s’écrivent maintenant avec majuscules ou minuscules. C’est un choix.
Calendrier de l’Avent et du temps des Fêtes (Archambault, 2020), 84 p. Album couleur. ISBN : 978-0-9896932-6-4
Pour commander l’album :
Aux États-Unis : 15 $ US plus les frais de livraison. Vous pouvez le commander en me contactant via ce site internet.
Canada : 22 $ CA Quelques exemplaires du livre sont disponibles à la Librairie Planète BD 4077, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal (Québec) et à la Librairie Paulines, 2653 Rue Masson, Montréal, QC H1Y 1W3, Canada
Calendrier Octobre. October Calendar
Visual Storytelling. Creating a Graphic Novel
Fundamentals of Visual Storytelling
Fall 2021! Adult Visual Storytelling class at the Palo Alto Art Center. A 10-week class to help you turn your stories into compelling narratives. Maximum of 12 students in the class! Registration starts on August 26 for Palo Alto residents, and September 2 for non-residents.
Smiling through the mask
Smiling through the mask. A pandemic comic book
For more than a year now, the COVID-19 pandemic brought us unexpected and difficult life challenges. Confinement rules left many of us economically weak, socially disconnected, and emotionally vulnerable. In a short time, our way of life changed dramatically and, usually, not for the better. Situations that would have seemed absurd before the pandemic became our new normal, and in that sometimes humor could be found. For example, we went from finding it difficult to cover our nose and mouth every time we went out of the house to taking pride in our collection of beautiful, colorful, handmade masks. At first, we struggled to switch from in-person meetings to online video conferencing. Then we became oddly proud to be among the tech savvy who knew how to navigate those platforms, until we finally declared ourselves overcome by Zoom fatigue.
These situations provided me with materials for laughs during the pandemic months. I enjoyed creating a series of humorous cartoons and I shared them on various online platforms. The financial support I received from the Palo Alto Public Art Program  through its ArtLift Microgrants helped me turn this series of illustrations into a comic book and to share it for free with the Palo Alto community. With this project, I would like to help people recover a sense of joy in their lives by seeing the humor in some of the unusual and often difficult situations the pandemic imposed on us. By choosing the “traveling book†format, I also hope to encourage you to rediscover your sense of belonging to the community by laughing together at situations we all experienced.Â
May the book bring you a smile or two … behind a mask or not!
A traveling book
We could not travel during the pandemic, but this book can. When you find one of the books, enjoy it for a while and then pass it on to someone who could use a smile, or bring it back to a neighborhood book box. Keep the book traveling! During the summer of 2021, 100 copies of this book will be deposited in neighborhood book boxes and public place, all over Palo Alto. Each copy of the book has a unique number. Just like you want your loved ones to check in with you while they’re traveling, you can help this book check in while it’s traveling by sharing its unique number in your #SmilingThruTheMask posts.
Join in the fun and share your own #SmilingThruTheMask stories and creative work!
The pandemic turned all of our lives upside down and we all have stories to tell. Some might be sad, some might be funny. Did you write about it? Did you turn them in some creative work? Some of these situations, we all experienced, even if we dealt with them differently. Let’s share them as a way to support each other. Share your own stories and creative work using the #SmilingThruTheMask hashtag.
New Online Interactive Visual Storytelling class! English and French.
During the month of February, I will be offering a new series of four Visual Storytelling classes. Each week, I will teach a new fundamental technique. Classes will feature a lecture with examples, demonstrations and hands-on exercises.
You can register for only one or all four sessions to make the most of your graphic novel, memoir, children’s book, or travel diary!
You can choose to take the classes in French or in English.
Registration just started. Click here to register and to get more information. Once you register, Please, check your “receipt notes” for the Zoom meeting link and suggested supplies.
Classes are held every Saturday, February 6, 13, 20 and 27
French classes: 1-2:30 p.m. PST (4-5:30 p.m. EST)
English classes: 3:30-5 p.m. PST (6:30-9 p.m. EST)
Fundamentals of Visual Storytelling
Week 1: Telling a story in three acts and four panels. Mastering the narrative arc.
Week 2: Principles of Character Design. Characters as Narrative Tools.
Week 3: Text and Sequential Art. Narration, Dialogs, Lettering.
Week 4: Guiding Narrative Flow with Camera Angles and Picture Composition
