Enrollment is now open!
Join the KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp and go from concept to finished comic in 13 weeks. It's a live, hands-on course for creators making graphic novels for kids and teens.
Early Bird Tuition:
$1,690 or 3 payments of $590
Early Bird pricing ends September 6.
Class begins Sept. 19, 2026.
Do you struggle to turn your ideas into a tightly focused, compelling comics story?
Are you looking to strengthen your visual storytelling with guidance from experienced pros?
Is your kids’ or YA graphic novel pitch in need of sample pages that make an impact?
KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp
is for you!
KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp is a live, hands-on, three-month course for creators ready to take their concept from imagination to reality. Students will strengthen their visual storytelling while completing a polished comic ready for readers – whether that’s a standalone piece or the beginning of a book pitch.
Over 13 weeks, award-winning graphic novelist and educator Ira Marcks, along with graphic novelist Cheyenne Smith, will guide you through the complete comics-making process, from story development and thumbnails through pencils, lettering, inks, color, and finished art.
You won’t just learn about making comics. You’ll MAKE one.
And best of all, your completed comic will be published in a beautifully printed student anthology.
"
I gained important, must-know information and resources that improved my comics craft."
- Alondra Araujo
Learn the full creative process
and finish a comic you’re proud of.
Creating a full-length graphic novel can feel like an enormous, daunting thing.
Story structure, pacing, character design, panel flow, page turns, dialogue, composition, lettering, color, and production all have to work together. It can be hard to understand what isn’t working when you’re creating alone.
The Bootcamp gives you the opportunity to practice the entire graphic novel process by creating a polished comic for kids or teens, with the support of experienced pros and fellow creators.
By the end of Graphic Novel Bootcamp, you will have:
1.
Conceptualized, drafted, and revised a complete short comics story
2.
Designed characters and environments that support your narrative
3.
Strengthened your pacing, paneling, page composition, and visual clarity
4.
Taken your pages from rough thumbnails through finished art
5.
Received constructive feedback from experienced instructors and peers
6.
Developed a production process you can apply to larger graphic novel projects
7.
Completed work for inclusion in a professionally printed student anthology
8.
Created sample pages and a story summary that you can adapt for future opportunities such as KCU Pitchfest.
KCU courses are designed to help projects move forward.
Some past KCU students have gone on to sign with agents and receive book deals for projects they began, developed, or revised during our programs.*
*Kids Comics Unite does not facilitate offers of representation or book deals on behalf of participants.
Jannie Ho
Bethanie Murguia
Sydney Halpern and Trygve Faste
What you'll learn
13 Weeks · Video + Live Q&A
Story and structure
Develop a narrative arc, establish a strong point of view, write effective comics dialogue, and shape a story worth telling.
Thumbnails, panels, and pages
Explore panel transitions, page layouts, pacing, page turns, clarity, flow, and the unique possibilities of sequential art.
Characters and worlds
Create expressive characters, useful character sheets, convincing environments, and a visual language that supports your story.
The production process
Move through pencils, lettering, balloon placement, inks, scanning and cleanup, color, effects, and final page preparation.
Sustainable creative practice
Learn to respond productively to critique, manage deadlines, develop a realistic workflow, and keep creating without burning yourself out.
Pitching and presenting your work
Learn how to summarize and talk about your project, then present your completed short comic during the final celebration session.
Is Graphic Novel Bootcamp right for you?
The Bootcamp may be a strong fit for you if:
- You already have some experience writing and drawing comics
- You want to make graphic novels for children or teens
- You are developing a longer graphic novel and want to strengthen your visual storytelling
- You start projects enthusiastically but have trouble completing them
- You want feedback, deadlines, accountability, and a clear creative process
- You are ready to devote consistent time to your comic for 13 weeks
Students should be prepared to both write and draw their short comic. (This course is not a good fit for writers-only.)
You do not need to be professionally published. You just need to be ready to practice, experiment, revise, and participate.
You don't have to figure it out alone.
Making comics is challenging enough. Making them by yourself is even harder.
Throughout the Bootcamp, you’ll be part of a dedicated community of creators working toward the same goal.
You’ll have opportunities to:
- Receive instructor feedback during live critique sessions
- Post artwork in the private course community for written feedback
- Learn from critiques of other students’ work
- Ask questions when you get stuck
- Stay accountable through clear assignments and deadlines
- Build relationships with other serious kids’ and YA graphic novel creators
The combination of structured assignments, live critique, peer connection, and a dedicated online community can be utterly transformative for your work.
Past Student Work
Amelie Shypilova
Cheyenne Smith
Bob Thibeault
"I have grown exponentially as a creator and can see how much I improved in such a brief amount of time.”
— Noella Bickel
“I’d recommend it to anyone who is serious about making comics a career or a professional hobby.”
— Del Hahn
“The class gave us our identity back: we matter, our ideas matter, and there is always a way forward.”
— Mike Blake
"I was grateful to meet like-minded people who aim to be, or already are, creative professionals, sharing their ideas and creativity."
— Alberto Gonzalez
“ Coming from the game industry, where information and process are often guarded secrets, it is refreshing to see a group of creatives sharing.”
— Lahela Schoessler
"Sharing our challenges and hearing about others’ struggles connected us and grew our confidence that we’re not alone in this journey. We’d recommend it to anyone on their graphic novel journey.”
— Ashlee & Geoff Wagner
Publish your work in the KCU Bootcamp Anthology
Completed student comics will be collected in a professionally printed KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp anthology.
Celebrate your hard work with something real to share and hold in your hands.*
Anthology participation is included with the course (as long as you hit the deadline!).
*Printed copies available for purchase separately and approximately $35 per copy.
Past KCU anthology Let's Go is similar to what Graphic Novel Bootcamp participants will create together.
Ready to make your comic?
Spend 13 weeks developing your story, strengthening your visual storytelling, getting feedback from experienced comics creators, and taking your pages all the way from rough idea to finished art.
Early Bird tuition: $1,690 through September 6.
Meet Your Instructors
Ira Marcks
Ira Marcks is an award-winning artist, author, and educator. He is the creator of the Midnight Movie Adventures graphic novel series published by Little Brown Ink.
His work explores the potential of cartoon and comics narratives and has led to an eclectic range of collaborations, including the Hugo Award-winning magazine Weird Tales, the European Research Council, and a White House Fellowship researcher.
Ira is also an experienced online educator whose popular Skillshare courses have inspired more than 100,000 students.
Throughout the Bootcamp, he will break the comics-making process into clear, manageable stages and help students apply each lesson directly to their own short projects.
Cheyenne Smith
Assistant instructor, Cheyenne Smith, is an author-illustrator from Austin, Texas who got her start in comics as an editorial cartoonist.
She’s currently working on her debut graphic novel, Hell on Wheels, for Random House Graphic, as well as editing the annual horror anthology, Splintermouth.
Cheyenne will teach a special session on pitching and presenting your work, lead critique sessions, and offer asynchronous feedback in the course community.
Thinking about entering KCU Pitchfest?
The KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp can give you a significant head start.
By the end of the course, you’ll have polished comics pages and a clear understanding of your project. You can then use the months before Pitchfest to refine those materials into a strong mini-pitch.*
*KCU Pitchfest sold separately
Key Details
Course dates
September 19–December 12, 2026
Format
Video lessons, assignments, live critique sessions with instructors, curated small critique groups, and private community support
Live critique sessions happen on Tuesdays at 7 pm EST, and on Thursdays at 11 am EST. All sessions are recorded so students can watch replays if they can't attend live.
Project
One completed 6 page comic for kids or teens
Cost
Early bird tuition
$1690 or 3 payments of $590 (opens Sep 3rd and ends Sep 6)
Standard tuition
$1,820 or 3 payments of $640 (starting Sep 7; enrollment closes Sep 15)
Discounted rate available for students, financial hardship, and international parity.
Make this the fall you finish an awesome comic.
The KCU Graphic Novel Bootcamp begins September 19.
Early Bird: $1,690 or 3 payments of $590 through September 6
Standard enrollment begins September 7 and closes September 15.
You’ll get immediate access to the private Bootcamp community after enrolling.
FAQs
What will the schedule for the Bootcamp be like? What will be live, what will be recorded, and what if I can’t attend some of the live sessions?
The Graphic Novel Bootcamp combines lessons and assignments you can complete on your own schedule with plenty of opportunities for live feedback and interaction.
Each week, you’ll work through the course lesson and assignment on your own time. We’ll also offer two live critique sessions each week:
- Tuesdays at 7 PM ET with Cheyenne Smith
- Thursdays at 11 AM ET with Ira Marcks
All critique sessions will be recorded, so you can watch the replay if you aren’t able to attend live. You do not need to attend every live session in order to participate fully in the Bootcamp.
Even when your own work isn’t being reviewed, we strongly encourage you to attend or watch the replay. Ira and Cheyenne will use individual submissions to explore storytelling and comics-making principles that apply broadly to everyone’s work.
We’ll kick things off with a live orientation on Saturday, September 19 at 4 PM ET.
How much time should I expect to spend on the Bootcamp each week?
That will depend on your working style and how much time you want to devote to your comic.
Each week, you’ll have a lesson to work through along with an assignment or project milestone. You’ll also have the option to attend or watch the two weekly critique sessions.
The actual comics-making can take as much time as you choose to give it, especially once you get into drawing and finishing pages. We’ve deliberately made the central project a short 6 page comic so that you can experience the entire comics-making process within a 3-month timeframe.
You can approach the project at a level of finish that’s realistic for your schedule and true to your own artistic style.
Is the Graphic Novel Bootcamp only for creators making kids’ comics and graphic novels? What if I’m creating work for a YA audience?
The storytelling principles you’ll learn in the Bootcamp apply across age categories.
The course focuses on the fundamental craft of making comics: developing a strong story, creating compelling characters, thinking visually, pacing a sequence, moving from script to thumbnails to finished pages, and making creative choices that keep readers emotionally invested.
We’ll also spend time on age category and audience—an especially important consideration if you hope to publish traditionally. Agents and editors frequently see projects where the creator hasn’t fully understood the expectations of the age level they’re writing for, whether that involves character age, story complexity, themes, page count, format, or reader expectations. Understanding those conventions can make a major difference in how clearly and professionally your project is positioned.
Whether you’re working on Early Reader, Middle Grade, or YA projects, you can absolutely apply what you’ll be learning in GN Bootcamp to your work
Will there be individualized development and feedback on our projects?
Yes. In fact, that’s one of the most important parts of the Bootcamp.
Over the course of the program, you’ll take a project through the process of developing and creating a short comic, with assignments designed to help you strengthen the story and artwork as you go.
During our twice-weekly critique sessions, students will be able to submit work for feedback from Ira and Cheyenne. Submissions will generally focus on the stage of the project we’re working on that week, so the critiques build alongside the curriculum.
How do the critique sessions work?
Students may submit work in advance of each critique session, with submissions due approximately 6-12 hours before the session.
We’ll prioritize work related to that week’s assignment or project stage, and Ira and Cheyenne will select submissions that allow them to address useful storytelling and comics-making principles for the whole class. Over the course of the Bootcamp, we’ll also make an effort to give opportunities to students whose work has not yet been reviewed.
If your work is discussed while you’re attending live, you’ll be able to ask follow-up questions.
Most importantly, the critique sessions aren’t valuable only when your own pages are being reviewed. Watching issues get diagnosed and discussed in someone else’s comic is one of the best ways to develop your own editorial eye.
What if I have a full-time job or can’t participate at the scheduled times?
We deliberately scheduled the two weekly critique sessions at different times of day—one in the evening and one during the daytime—to make live participation possible for more students. But we know that no schedule will work for everyone.
All critique sessions will be recorded, and the course is designed so that you can keep progressing even if you participate primarily through the lessons, assignments, community, and replays.
You do not need to rearrange your life around every live session in order to get a lot out of the Bootcamp.
How much experience do I need to participate?
You don’t need to be a published graphic novelist, or even to have completed a comic before.
The Bootcamp is intended for creators who have some familiarity with writing and/or drawing stories and are ready to seriously develop their skills. In the past, we’ve successfully worked with a wide range of students, from fine artists who are learning narrative skills for the first time; to picture book creators who are new to graphic novels; to animation artists who have strong technical skills but have never worked in book publishing.
You might be working on your first graphic novel, developing a work-in-progress, or just making a comic for fun. What matters most is that you’re willing to work consistently, experiment, revise, and learn.
Do I need to come into the Bootcamp with a graphic novel project already planned?
No.
If you already have a graphic novel in progress, you can absolutely draw on characters or material from that project as you work through the course.
But you do not need to arrive with a fully developed story. One of the goals of the Bootcamp is to help you get better at developing ideas and turning them into workable stories. So it’s fine to show up with a blank slate and find your idea the first week of class.
Do I need to both write and draw?
The Bootcamp is built around the process of actually making comics, so you should plan to participate in both the storytelling and visual-development portions of the course.
You do not need to consider yourself equally accomplished as a writer and an artist. In fact, the Bootcamp can be especially valuable if you feel much more confident in one area than the other.
Will we really make a finished comic during the Bootcamp?
That’s the goal!
Rather than spending 13 weeks talking abstractly about how graphic novels work, you’ll put the ideas into practice by developing a 6 page comic from beginning to end.
That smaller format allows you to experience the complete creative process—story development, scripting, visual storytelling, thumbnails, drawing, revision, and finishing pages—without needing to complete an entire graphic novel.
Is participating in the printed anthology required?
No. The anthology is an optional opportunity for Bootcamp students who would like to see their finished comic collected in print alongside the work of their classmates.
You can complete the entire Bootcamp and get the full benefit of the program without participating in the anthology.
It does not cost any extra money to have your comic included in the anthology. But if you'd like physical copies of the finished anthology, you will purchase those copies separately, at an estimated cost of approximately $35 per book.
How long will I have access to the course materials?
Your course materials won’t disappear when the Bootcamp ends.
You’ll continue to have access to the lessons, resources, and recordings for as long as Kids Comics Unite exists, so you can return to them while developing future projects as well.
If you've studied comics-making through another organization like SAW or in a BFA or MFA program, how is the KCU GN Bootcamp different?
There will definitely be some overlap in the fundamental craft of making comics between KCU GN Bootcamp and other intensive programs like SAW, CCS, and/or art school. The biggest difference is that KCU’s Graphic Novel Bootcamp is specifically focused on making comics for kids and teens.
That changes the context of what we discuss. The examples we use, the conversations around story and character, and especially the discussion of age level, audience, pacing, tone, and what makes a comic work for younger readers will all be grounded in children’s and YA graphic novels.
That’s a little different from studying comics in a broader sense. If your goal is specifically to create work for the children’s or teen market, there’s value in spending time looking at the craft through that lens and being surrounded by other creators who are doing the same thing.
So if you’re wondering whether this would simply repeat what you’ve already learned, it's true that fundamental storytelling and visual narrative principles are universal, but KCU's GN Bootcamp is an opportunity to take the comics skills you’ve already been developing and focus them very specifically on making stronger comics for children or teens.
I’m developing a children’s comic-strip series with recurring characters, rather than a traditional longer graphic-novel format. Would a collection of strips be OK, and still be eligible for inclusion in the anthology, or does the anthology specifically require a single narrative?
A comic strip series is totally fine! The course focuses on developing a sustainable creative practice and designing characters and stories that can support a larger body of work. So, that could mean a kid friendly comic-strip just as easily as a graphic novel project.
That said, we would encourage you to create some continuity for this comic strip project to teach yourself to work with narrative arcs and scene resolutions. This could mean a simple conflict, small goal, or other familiar short story topics. Just try and avoid treating each strip as an one-off gag (like Nancy does). Calvin and Hobbes, for example, often developed stories across a week of individual strips while still making each installment satisfying on its own! A format like that would let you meet the project goals while developing the children’s comic-strip series you’re excited about.
Will the program work for beginners who are just getting started on their stories? Or, on the other hand, will the program be helpful for experienced creators who’ve already been published?
We’re designing the program to work for both “pre-published” and “already published” creators. We’ll be covering a lot of fundamentals that will help beginning creators get started. But we’ll also go deeper on those fundamentals to discuss how more advanced participants can move to the next level.
How will the program help me reconcile “writing to market” with “writing the book of my heart”?
This is a very common and critical question that many creators wrestle with. Our own firm belief is that you must write the book of your heart.
But it’s also extremely helpful to find peers and mentors who can look at your work with an outsiders’ perspective and help you see its strengths and weaknesses; who its audience is; and where it fits in the market.
It’s a constant dance between listening to what your heart is telling you, then sharing that with trusted people who can help guide you forward. It’s important to keep an open mind and be willing to listen. Sometimes you start in one place, with one specific expectation of where you’re going with your creative work, but in the end -- if you are open to feedback and being flexible -- you end up somewhere completely unexpected.
What is the total cost of the program?
Tuition for the full 13-week Graphic Novel Bootcamp is $1,690 during Early Bird enrollment.
After Early Bird enrollment ends, tuition will be $1,820.
Tuition includes the complete Bootcamp curriculum, access to the KCU Bootcamp community, twice-weekly live critique sessions with Ira and Cheyenne, recordings of the live sessions, curated small peer groups, and the opportunity to have your finished comic included in the Bootcamp anthology at no additional charge.
The only additional cost is if you choose to purchase physical copies of the finished anthology, estimated at approximately $35 per copy.
