Space Chicken - the last comics of March and the first on Zoom

Here, united in one montage, are the final two comics produced in my Comic Art Masterclasses in the old world, in live classes at Baldock Arts Centre on the 14th of March, and the comics produced in my first two Zoom classes, in the last week of June and the first week of July. The old times meet the new, and I'm so pleased to have returned to working with, if not in, schools once again.

After the longest break my classes have ever taken, I think, since I started them in earnest at the end of the 2000s, I'm back, thanks to the technology of Zoom, and the generosity and ambition of a first few schools and art centres. After March 14th's Baldock classes, the pandemic's effect well and truly took hold, and every school visit that was scheduled from that date onwards was cancelled. Nobody knew when that sort of thing would resume, but certainly throughout April and May there wasn't the slightest feeling that they might.

As we entered June, Hev and I were getting used to using Zoom for Felicity & Tom's regular quiz game  parties, and I'd been guesting on Dean Friedman's online shows with the Socks and, in June, played on the first of his Zoom gigs. It became clear that Zoom was a way that I could do classes, and I'd stayed in conversation with schools about the possibility of my classes resumed.

But it wasn't until Laura, a teacher at Red Maids Juniors in Bristol, took the initiative that we actively set up and did a day of Comic Art Masterclasses. And on June 24th, after a full three months away, I was back. You can see those first two comics in the montage. To begin with I was worried that the kids would miss the photocopied comic that we usually produce, but that wasn't an issue. And more than that, I was able to work with a larger number of pupils in one session. As long as they weren't bothered that only 30 per session would get their caricatures, then I was able to work with groups of 50 or more.

My second day of classes, with year 5 and 6 of Edgeborough School in Farnham, was on July 7th, and went even more smoothly. With a mix of kids in "bubbles" of classes of 12, sharing one video screen, and kids with individual ipads and laptops, I'm continually working out ways of making the classes hit the mark on Zoom. And, in lots of ways, it enables me to have more impact with some things than I do in the class.

Little by little, routines are changing and developing so that, soon, the Zoom classes will very much be their own entity. The only worry then will be, when live classes return, will I remember how I used to do them?

The celebrities these 6 groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip (which survives intact in the Zoom classes) were Donald Trump (twice), Lazer Beam (a Youtuber), Kim Kardashian, Kim Jong Un, and The Queen.

I have two more days of classes lined up in July and two in August, so far, with the hope that more will continue to be added. Let's see if, by the start of the new term, whether this couldn't become my new way of working. Until, as we all hope, normal service is resumed.

(That said, the amount of time I've not spent stuck in a car is already appreciated. Today's classes in Farnham would have seen me drive 230 miles and be in the car for four and a half hours alone. The forthcoming classes in Bexley, Surrey and Harrow would have seen more of the same. The petrol station's loss is my gain, with the comic covers from each of these classes being coloured and emailed back to their schools faster than I would have made it as far as Leigh Delamere services.)

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres - AND NOW ONLINE VIA ZOOM. email for details. His debut graphic novel Findlay Macbeth is available on Amazon. Follow Kev on Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here.