Kids Comics Intensive

Kids Comics Intensive is a 13-week, live, hands-on program to help you make massive progress in your children’s book/graphic novel career.

“It’s like being in a creative workspace with like-minded individuals, which is stimulating, grounding, & challenging.”
– Harold Buchholz

Kids Comics Intensive includes:

• • Weekly live lessons covering targeted topics on the craft of visual storytelling and sequential art, building your platform, and connecting with readers
  • A small critique group that holds you accountable and keeps you inspired and motivated
  • Weekly group coaching calls to help you overcome your stumbling blocks
  • Weekly assignments that ensure you put what you’re learning into practice
  • A dedicated online community where you will build friendships and a support network with like-minded peers

In short, this program is perfect for you if:

• • You’re just getting started and are looking for a crash course in kids comics craft and marketing
  • You’ve been at it for a long time and still haven’t gotten your breakout book published
  • You’ve been published but still aren’t making as much money or having as much of an impact as you want
  • You’re self-publishing and want a solid plan to maximize your success

As far as I know, there is no other program like this in the children’s book industry. It’s shorter and more practical than an MFA, but more intense and broader in scope than a weekend workshop.

You also have the opportunity to enroll in Kids Comics Intensive Premium, which includes two one-hour, one-on-one coaching calls with me, laser-focused on your specific needs and situation and ensuring you keep making progress after the course ends. 

Kids Comics Intensive will help you make steady progress on your creative work and, at the same time, start connecting with your ideal readers right now in a more authentic, consistent, and compelling way.

Who is teaching Kids Comics Intensive?

I’m Janna Morishima.

I’ve been working in kids graphic novels for since 2004, when I brought the idea of starting a graphic novel imprint to my boss at the time, David Saylor at Scholastic. After helping found Scholastic Graphix, I became head of the Kids Group at Diamond Book Distributors, and worked with publishers like Marvel, Oni Press, and Toon Books. Later, I became a consultant, working with a range of clients from individual creators to publishers to the NYC Department of Education. 

I’m currently an agent with Janna Co. and New Leaf Literary and Media, and the founder of Kids Comics Unite.

My greatest passion is working with artists and writers. Because you’re the ones creating stories and ultimately touching kids’ lives.

My co-instructor is Rivkah LaFille.

Rivkah is a children’s illustrator, writer, designer and graphic novelist living in Austin, TX. Her graphic novel series, STEADY BEAT, was nominated by the American Library Association’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. She was nominated as a Lulu of the Year by Friends of Lulu for her work in promoting women in comics, and she won the Austin SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Award, presided over by Caldecott winner and New York Times bestselling author, Dan Santat. Currently, she is working on a graphic novel series with First Second.

Rivkah will be teaching the lessons on comics craft and storytelling.

Class begins on Tuesday, Feb. 9th, and ends the week of May 3rd. Here’s what we’ll be covering in each KC Intensive lesson:

Week 1: Clarifying Your Purpose and Prioritizing Your Creative Work

Week 2: Comics Storytelling 101

Week 3: Paneling, Pacing, and Layouts (aka “Visual Storytelling”)

Week 4: Ballooning, Lettering, and Coloring

Week 5: Author/Illustrator Marketing and Branding Fundamentals

Week 6: Your Homebase: A Website That Works for You

Week 7: Email Marketing Part 1: Why It Matters

Week 8: Email Marketing Part 2: Setting Things Up

Week 9: Understanding the Industry (Agents, Editors, Pitches, and More)

Week 10: Planning Outreach and PR

Week 11: What You Need to Know About Social Media

Week 12: Making Money and Diversifying Your Income Stream

Week 13: Your 3-Month Action Plan

What You’ll Learn

Here are just a few of the things we’ll cover in Kids Comics Intensive:

• • How to get focused when you have too many ideas
  • How to take constructive feedback and use it to make your work more evocative and powerful
  • How visual storytelling in comics differs from picture books and prose narrative
  • How to be more consistent in your creative work and marketing
  • How to go from a messy, ineffective web presence to one that is strong and professional
  • How to raise your profile in the industry and “package” yourself when you’ve had a non-standard career

Building a career as a creative is hard.

You might sometimes feel exhausted, trying to work on your stories, figure out how to market yourself, and hold down your day job, all at the same time. Or you have so many ideas and feel pulled in so many different directions that you get paralyzed by indecision. Or you’ve gotten enough rejections that you want to hide under your blankets and never come out.

But you should absolutely, positively never give up.

You have stories inside you. Those stories are meaningful to you… and you want them to make an impact on real-life kids. Kids who might be similar to you when you were young.

When you get those stories out, share them and polish them and do the hard work to make them the best they could possibly be… then get them published and put them into kids’ hands… you’ll have accomplished something truly remarkable.

You’ll feel fulfilled. And you’ll be touching kids lives.

Tuition for the Kids Comics Intensive course is $399.99 per month for three months. 

Tuition for Kids Comics Intensive Premium, which includes everything in the regular course plus two one-hour, one-on-one coaching calls with me after the course has ended, is $599.99 per month for three months.

Open enrollment ends at midnight EST on Sunday, Feb. 7th.

If you’re not ready to make this investment yet, or if it’s too much for you right now, I understand. You can still participate in Kids Comics Unite and get tremendous value from our wonderful community!

But if you’re ready to enroll in the Intensive, I’m super excited to work together with you… and for it to be the most transformative, fun, and meaningful learning experience you’ve ever had.

Although the world is different now, there are some things that will never change.

You have to do the work.

You have to connect with your people.

You have to entertain and inspire your readers, not just in your books, but as a writer or artist — as a human being. 

If you do these things well, you’ll build a rock-solid career.

So if you’re ready to dive headfirst into creating your best work and connecting with readers who love you… please join me. 

Let’s make it happen.

P.S. The signup button takes you to the Courses page in Kids Comics Unite. If you’re not a member yet, you’ll have to register (it’s free!). Then you can review the course options and enroll.