Manar Elbaz

DUBAI: Throughout Ramadan, Dubai’s open arts and culture space, Alserkal Avenue, will be holding free comic-making workshops mixed with photography darkroom techniques, helping participants bring their stories to life in a creative way. 

Attendees will learn the basics of visual storytelling in order to make a one-page comic made of three parts. When they develop their concept, they will print it in the darkroom at the analog store, Analog The Room. Darkroom techniques help artists change the brightness or the contrast, giving the comics a unique twist. 

The workshops, titled Comics Through Light, are taught by Mohammad Alshaibani, an Emirati comic artist who has published several indie comics. 

“The workshop is based on the idea I had on mixing photography with comics,” he told Arab News Japan. “The concept that was given to me (by Alserkal Avenue) was interrupting patterns, so I thought, ‘How about we start with a comic that’s on the 2D surface?’” 

“Using this kind of chemical process, we can choose to make it lighter or darker; all sorts of experiments can happen in terms of the backgrounds and the characters,” he added. 

Alshaibani shared that the beauty of the workshop is its unpredictability. “I can’t imagine how the results will come out,” he said. “The point is that it’s going to be something we don’t plan, something unique or strange.” 

The artist, who was introduced to comics through anime at the age of four, shared that the workshops are beginner-friendly. “It doesn’t matter if you are skilled or not. You can do it through stick figures and you’ll be able to pick it up,” he said.

The first workshop, out of three, took place on Saturday and was met with success as approximately 20 people attended. 

“The workshop is really fun and interactive,” one of the attendees told Arab News Japan. “I like that we are all pitching ideas to each other and we can work on our own ideas as well.”

The two remaining workshops will take place on March 16 and 23. Participants can attend by registering in advance.