Drawn to Speak: Comics as a Language
WorkshopAśka
Festival Pass| Workshop Pass
As spaces for this session are limited, priority will be given to registrants on a first-come-first-served basis. We regret that we will not accept walk-ins if the session is full. Please pre-register for the workshop.
Ever wondered how to make your pictures speak? Join award-winning comic artist Aśka from the Perth Comic Arts Festival for a hands-on journey through the five literacies of comics and graphic novels. Rather than focusing on quality art or script writing, we will explore other, equally important elements of sequential storytelling such as panels, pacing, symbolism, emotion, and multisensory storytelling. Through playful exercises that build on each other, you will learn how to 'write with pictures’ to make a narrative experience that leaps off the page, captures the imagination, and perhaps shows us the world in a fun, new way.
comics and graphic novelswritingillustration
Aśka (Australia)
Aśka (she/they) is creative dynamite. A short listed graphic novelist, an ex-quantum physicist, and a big fan of the little doovalacky above the ‘s’ in her name (which you pronounce ‘Ash-ka’).
A hugely engaging and popular presenter, Aśka likes to think about HOW pictures work and is passionate about visual literacy education. In addition to a catalogue of self-published comics, they have traditionally published more than a dozen books and graphic novels. Their recent titles include the Stonewall Award Notable graphic novel Stars in Their Eyes, which was also a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book and shortlisted for the 2022 Comic Arts Awards of Australia. Aśka’s latest YA graphic novel is The Friendship Paradox, published by Allen & Unwin in 2026.
She is also the recipient of several government arts grants, prizes, and fellowships. Aśka is an organising committee member for the Perth Comic Arts Festival, contributes regularly to The School Magazine, volunteered as Illustrator Co-ordinator for the WA branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for four years, has single-handedly run an animation festival, held a solo art exhibition about numbers in nature, and been featured in an ABC TV documentary.
When they’re not creating, Aśka is travelling across Australia teaching eager students of all ages how to write with pictures. Find out more at askastorytelling.com
Photo by Emanuel Rudnicki
Programme dates and times are subject to change.