Masterclass at City Scripts
History and Art of the Graphic Novel by Ralph Trommer

Sat, 22.02.2020
3:00 PM - 17:00 Indian Institut for Human Settlements (IIHS)

We are delighted to participate in the fifth edition of the annual urban writings festival City Scripts, organised by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS). City Scripts 2020 will feature authors, journalists, performers, science communicators, poets, translators, artists and academics who engage with the city in different ways. We present Ralph Trommer, German expert for graphic literature, who will conduct an exclusive Masterclass at the Festival!

In his Masterclass, Ralph Trommer explains his view on Comics and Graphic Novels. Beginning with a short definition of "What is a Comic?" and a run through of the history of the art form - from classical comic strips to modern diversity - he focuses on the role of cities in comics: in big cities in the USA and in Europe different comic scenes appeared and new forms of storytelling were developed. In the second part, he reports from German comic history and the current comic artist scene. The history of Germany in the 20th century - the two World Wars, the "Roaring Twenties" in Berlin and the era of the two German States during the Cold War - still inspires many artists to create stories. Also graphic versions of cities, especially futuristic visions. In the last part, Ralph will show some classical approaches to conceiving and creating comics. Graphic artists or authors can get information on how to realise their own comics and even have the opportunity to show their own art to the workshop leader.

Ralph Trommer, born in 1969, is a freelance journalist and author, living in Berlin, and writing for German newspapers and specialised magazines about graphic literature (comics, graphic novels, mangas), childrens books, fiction, films and TV series. In the 1990s, he studied the Art of Animation Film and Screenwriting at the Potsdam Film University near Berlin. He also worked as a screenwriter for an animation series ("Simsalagrimm"), wrote a childrens book and several short stories.

The event is free and open to all. Register for the Masterclass http://bit.ly/RTrommer