Cal High artists, they’re looking for you.
The school’s new Comic Club gives students a chance to express their creativity through drawing and storytelling and while learning new skills.
The club was founded this year by sophomore Caitlyn Lim, who serves as the club president, and sophomore Vivian Zhao, who is the vice president.
Lim and Zhao both share a passion for art and writing. Last spring, they wanted to create a club that was based on both of their passions, so they decided comics were the best way to do this.
This led Lim to create a club that helped people improve their skills and apply them by creating comics.
“We focus on teaching, rather than just having a club where people already know what to do,” Lim said. “That can feel exclusive and make people hesitant to try.”
Lim has always been interested in art and wanted to teach others, but she never had enough time to do so. But after creating Comic Club, she was given a great opportunity to teach art to students who share her interest and love for art.
In Comic Club, members are given opportunities to grow as artists and writers, while embracing new challenges. Learning how to craft stories and create art is accessible to students of different skill levels, and they can exhibit their creativity in ways they couldn’t before, Lim said.
Comic Club caters to artists and writers of all skill levels by providing them with a supportive environment to learn and be creative. They go through the fundamentals of drawing and storytelling each meeting.
Sophomore Brenda Rosales, Comic Club’s social media manager, is proud of herself and fellow board members for how they are all able to create their own lesson plans for meetings.
“We come up with different lessons for each meeting and each member teaches their own [lesson] every meeting,” Rosales said.
Comic Club focuses on more than just art. A big aspect in making comics is storytelling, so the club teaches writing skills as well.
“That’s why it’s called the Comic Club,” Zhao said, “Because when you make a comic, it includes both writing and art, so we can teach about both of them.”
Since the board members all have an interest in art and storytelling, their club is a great way for them to express that while also sharing it with others.
“We all have different skills and we want to make it as well rounded as possible,” Zhao said.
During each meeting, one of the club officers leads a lesson in drawing or writing. They provide step by step instructions about basic areas of art or storytelling. So far, they’ve taught different parts of writing and crafting a story, and drawing anatomy.
Not every meeting is a lesson though. In order to help their members improve, Comic Club started having meetings where members can create art at their own pace and ask for help when needed.
In preparation for meetings, the board members create slides and prepare what topics they will be discussing. Rosales also creates posts before every meeting with a brief description of the upcoming meeting’s agenda.
Zhao wants students to be more confident in showcasing their work, and she hopes the club gives them an opportunity to do that. An important part of the club to her is that everyone is supportive of each other.
“We wanted the club to be like a community, not just some board members and other [club] members,” Zhao said.
It’s important to the club officers that Comic Club is a safe space for all their artists. They encourage everyone to keep improving and supporting each other.
This year, the club wants to host contests and give members the opportunity to exhibit their work in order to step outside of their comfort zone. Each contest will each have their own unique prompt, and each participant will submit their own interpretation of it.
Members of Comic Club enjoy being a part of it due to its lighthearted atmosphere.
Senior Sanah Taheri joined the club because of her interest in art, and is planning on creating artwork for the club in the future. Taheri likes being in Comic Club and she would recommend it to other artists.
“If [someone] has an interest in art or drawing, I think it would be a fun experience.” Taheri said.
The club strives to bring its members together through pushing students’ creativity and allowing them to learn and showcase their talents.
Comic Club adviser and AP Psychology and World Geography teacher Kacie Endicott had Lim and Rosales in her class last year and quickly picked up on their passion for art.
So, it didn’t come as a surprise when she was asked to be the advisor of their club.
“Caitlyn was always doing wonderful drawings on my whiteboard,” Endicott said. “When they asked in the spring if they could add me as an adviser I said yes, of course, because they already had shown a great interest in this.” Endicott said.
Endicott appreciates how the board members take their time to explain lessons to the club and how supportive they are of each other. She expected nothing less of her former students and looks forward to seeing great things from the club.
“It’s a space where people can share different ideas, their art, and their writing and implement it into a story,” Rosales said. “We just want to make the people really close and happy and have a good environment.”