Dennis Rivard

The final day of class, unlike all other days, started off as a disaster. I arrived early as usual and got all the supplies for class out of the cupboards. The last thing I reached for was the pad of paper that was also holding all the kids’ comics. The pad of paper wasn’t there, so I did what any rational grown man would do, panicked! Read the rest of this entry »

The fifth class was pretty standard as most of the students were trying to finish up their comics. I told them they would still have time next class to work on them if they needed to and then they would present them to the class. What I didn’t tell them is that they would have to stand up in front of everyone when they do so. Bwah ha ha ha ha! Read the rest of this entry »

Class has officially moved past the halfway point and everything has been going as smooth as expected. For the fourth week, I was expecting to have just another day of taking it easy and letting the kids color their comics. Right before I was about to start, a mother came in with her child saying they didn’t realize class started three weeks ago and thought the first day was today. She asked me if he could still come to class or if it was too late for him.

Her son seemed like a nice kid, but it was very obvious in the first two seconds I observed him that he had more energy than the Micro Machines guy jacked up on caffeine. I think it had something to do with his random babbling and pacing back and forth of the room. Anxiety starting taking over my body and I had to quickly make a decision. Do I tell the mom that it’s too late? The negative being that she paid for a class that her kid never attended, but I have the satisfaction of not dealing with a high-energy child. Or do I let him stay for the remaining class periods and regret life? It’s a simple decision, right?
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One of the students in my class is working on a comic featuring superhero superstar Wonder Man. Not the one from Marvel Comics, a different one. I have had a previous engagement with this character before. I worked with the student’s Dad and he asked me to make a comic based on his son’s script. To make a long story short, I made the comic. At the end of last class the student asked if I could bring it in next week. Not one to crush a child’s excitement, I agreed and feared for the following week that the class would discover me for the hack that I am.
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After seeing how smoothly the first class went, I was pretty confident in how the second one was going to go. The plan was pretty simple; have them present what their stories are so far, let them finish their storyboards, and start working on the final paper. I thought for sure this was going to be the class where I just leave, then come back to dismiss. That was not the case. Why must life be so hard?
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When the idea of teaching a comic trip illustration class to kids was brought to my attention, my first though how easy art teachers have it. You just tell the kids what to do and then play on the computer for an hour. Either that, or leave the room and come back to dismiss everyone. Then when it’s time to critique the student’s projects, you just slap a big fat A+ on it. Everyone goes home happy. And they say teachers are under-paid.

You can only imagine the disappointment I felt when I was told you have to interact with the students and teach them something every class. This wasn’t what I signed up for! But it was too late. It was time for me to suck it up and do the one thing that everyone avoids like the plague: Work. Read the rest of this entry »