Comic Class for Writers 

About the Course

We are one of the only creative writing programs to offer comics courses. Comics professor Sarah Leavitt has developed a unique approach to teaching comics for students who already have a writing practice. The comics skills you’ll learn here will have the added benefit of strengthening your work in other forms of storytelling.

In this class, you’ll learn to use the most important building blocks of comics, including juxtaposition, sequence, composition, and word/image blending. The goal is to develop a diverse set of skills for writing and drawing comics – there’s much more to this medium than “learning to draw.”

At the core of the course are interviews with eight exciting cartoonists: Michael DeForge, Zoe Si, Johnny Damm, Adam de Souza, Teresa Wong, Mita Mahato, Marian Churchland, and Taylor Brown-Evans. The coursework begins with introductory drawing exercises and wraps up with a final short comics assignment. In between, students will read, draw, discuss and experiment. Meetings with Sarah and a workshop session will offer opportunities for feedback and support.

What You'll Learn

• How to create clear, compelling short comics
• How to apply comics techniques to other forms of writing, including juxtaposition, sequencing and word/image blending
• How to implement tools for assessing and revising your own work
• How to develop strategies to build your own comics community

Format

This course is 100% online and not for credit.  A new module of readings, videos, and exercises are released for each of the 6 weeks, that can be done asynchronously. You'll have the chance to discuss the assignments with your fellow students and attend weekly Q&A sessions to ask questions to the instructor.    

 Length:  Six weeks

 Instructors:  Sarah Leavitt

Audience: Open to anyone. No university registration required, no experience required.

 Prerequisite:  None

About the Instructor

Sarah Leavitt started making comics in 2005 and is the author of two graphic memoirs and a graphic novel. She has taught and developed comics classes here at UBC since 2012 and has taught comics to a wide range of students, from teens to seniors, from first year undergraduates to medical students.  

Sarah’s first book, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me (2010), was published in Canada and internationally, and translated into French, German and Korean. Tangles was the first comic to be nominated for a Writers’ Trust of Canada Award.   

A feature-length animation based on Tangles premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May 2026. The cast includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Abbi Jacobson and Samira Wiley.  

Sarah is also the author of two other award-winning graphic novels: Agnes, Murderess (2019) and the graphic memoir Something, Not Nothing (2024). 

Questions?

You can contact us at: crwr.noncredit@ubc.ca

Some frequent questions:

No, this course is accessible to anyone, no experience is required. 

How long will I have access to the course materials?   

You will have access to the course for three months after the course ends. We also provide downloadable transcripts of all videos and you're free to save these for future reference. 

What is your refund policy?

We will issue a refund (less a $50 administration fee) or a full fee transfer to another course when you fill out and submit our Course Withdrawal Form at least three (3) business days before the course start date. We cannot offer refunds or course transfers for withdrawals after this deadline.