Traditional Techniques in Graphic Storytelling

Explore Visual Storytelling with Emmy Award Winner Dario Bolivar
Join a vibrant community of creatives for this in-person course at CCNY’s historic Harlem campus, led by Emmy Award-winning artist Dario Bolivar. Designed for both beginners and experienced creators—no drawing experience required—this course invites students to rethink communication strategies and express ideas through compelling visual narratives.

Whether your tools of choice are pencils and sketchbooks or digital devices like iPads and smartphones, this course empowers you to work with what inspires you most. Rooted in traditional drawing techniques, the curriculum also embraces modern tools and software to help you bring your stories to life.

Through hands-on sessions and collaborative exploration, students will:

  • Master traditional drawing techniques for comics and graphic novels
  • Empower old-school methodologies using traditional media like pencils and paper
  • Utilize sketchbooks or iPads effectively for brainstorming and storyboarding
  • Explore both free and professional design software to enhance illustrations
  • Draw inspiration from comics and cinema to deepen visual storytelling
  • Create a complete, six-page graphic novel using both traditional and digital techniques

By the end of the course, each student will complete a fully realized six-page graphic novel that demonstrates their mastery of storytelling through images, reflecting their unique voice and artistic growth.

Required Tools

This workshop can be developed with mixed techniques; depending on the student's preference and comfort.

Traditional tools: paper, pencils, markers, sketchbook

and / or Software: adobe suite & procreate

Tuition

Tuition: $350

Registration fee: $25

Total: $375

Schedule

Wednesdays and Thursdays / 6 pm to 9 pm

July 9 - 31, 2025

8 sessions; 3 hours per session; 24 total hours

Examples of graphic storytelling you will learn to develop:
Register
 Meet the Instructor:
Dario Fernando Bolívar Gómez dario bolivar

Dario Bolivar is a digital artist with experience in animation and illustration, educator and researcher in the areas of transmedia and motion graphics, has an extensive portfolio in illustrated books, multimedia and 2d and 3d animation projects in Colombia and the United States, winner of Emmy NY 2021 award.  Dario has a Masters in Multimedia from Universidad Oberta de Catalunya, July 2015, and a Bachelors in Graphic Design from Bellas Artes, Cali, Colombia, December 1999.   His areas of expertise are Multimedia Design Animation, Transmedia, and Digital 2d & 3d Illustration.    Visit his page to see his work.  

Last Updated: 05/14/2025 13:02