Thi Bui Tag

Picture Book Workshop @ CCA

Hey this past week I had a chance to do a workshop introduction to picture books at CCA (California College of the Arts) for a group of MFA Comics students. I don’t know if they enjoyed it but I had hella fun. I brought a gang of picture books in English, Spanish, different mediums, newer ones, older ones, and different types of people. I talked about my most recent book “Fresh Juice/ Jugo Fresco” and many others by some of my favorite authors and illustrators. Photos by Thi Bui.

In this workshop we discussed:

  • Establishing a character design
  • Brainstorming and writing a story tagline
  • Synopsis of story
  • Storyboarding/ Thumbnailing a book
  • Rough sketches
  • Picture book layout, mechanics
  • Breaking into the industry
  • Building community

I have been consulting with individuals and organizations for years about how to make picture books and after doing this workshop I realized how much I really enjoyed talking about what it takes to make one live and in person. If you’re interested in getting some basic info from me about it, check out this PDF I made for newbies.

If you’d like to schedule a consultation or invite me to speak at your college please email me at info@robdontstop.com

BIG shout out to my homie and big sis Thi Bui (The Best We Could Do) who is a phenomenal cartoonist, illustrator, and professor. Big shout out to the homie Justin Hall, another fabulous cartoonist and professor who invited me to lead a workshop alongside some greats such as Ajuan Mance, Fred Noland, and Tyler Cohen.

Dig this? Check out the presentation I did for Modesto Jr College and my visit to the Austin Book Festival

Speaking on a panel-Berkeley Public Library

So as part of a series of panels, I will be speaking alongside artists Liz Mayorga (above art), Avy Jetter, Thi Bui, and Kayan Cheung-Miaw. I had the chance to speak with Kayan who organized the panel a earlier this year and I had the pleasure of meeting several comics artist. I recently started on a graphic novel project and now understand the huge challenge that comes with writing or illustrating a comic or graphic novel. I will be there talking about my work, self publishing, distribution, race, and more.  Come check it out on November 13th from 2-5pm.