Jillian Tamaki

-Born 1980 Ottawa, Ontario

-Canadian American illustrator and comics artist
-Graduated from Alberta College of Art and Design
in 2003
-Worked as an illustrator, comic artist, and teacher
since graduation
-Co-created some works with her cousin Mariko
Tamaki
-Currently lives in Toronto, Ontario Published
works:
Gilded Lilies
SKIM
-Co-authored with
Mariko Tamaki

Indoor Voice
This One
Summer
-Co-authored with
Mariko Tamaki

SuperMutant
Academy
Boundless
Excerpt from This One Summer
They Say Blue
“If there aren't McGolrick Park

some bad
drawings in
your
sketchbook,
you’re probably
doing it wrong”
 “I think the stronger influences are the ones that are
subconscious and that you consumed a lot of as a child”
Influences:
Archie Comics, Far Side, Calvin &
Hobbes, Herman
Indie Comics: Tomer Hanuka & Asaf
Hanuka
Drawn & Quarterly: Julie Doucet,
Chester, Seth, and Michel Rabagliati
Books by Will Eisner
Feminism and the female experience
Only mixed race child in her school

“The stories often have open endings

because Tamaki followed what
“instinctively feels right” – which, with
her, often means no satisfying arc or
conclusion” – Marta Bausells Rat Island

Tamaki uses her experience with comics as a child

and enjoyment of these comics to create the work
she does now. Her personal experiences as a
female and being the only mixed race child in her
school also come into play. In her book Skim the
main character similarly deals with being different
than all of the others in their school. She
addresses themes in adolescence such as coming
of age, LGBTQ+, bullying, and identity in her
work.

Her work serves as a way for readers to connect to

her experiences and her characters experiences in
a visual manner that is more easily accessible.

Her characters are relatable to people because

they are all unique.

“I like to think of comics as not tied to paper or

books. Comics are just sequential art”
 SuperMutant Magic Academy

This graphic novel compiles 3+ years

of Tamaki’s comics. These comics
explore a high school world with
typical teenage issues but all while
being mutants and witches.

SuperMutant Magic Academy won

two Ignatz awards.

How does the style of the comic connect to the

subject?
Why might she have made the characters mutants?
How might the characters being mutants change the
way they experience high school?
Could it be easier or harder for readers to connect?

“Though Tamaki’s black and white panels shift from detailed

and realistic to dreamy and atmospheric and back again, she
consistently and expertly captures subtle emotion and
subtext with only a few strokes of the pen. [SuperMutant
Magic Academyis] simultaneously heartbreaking and
hilarious. - Booklist
 This One Summer
By Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian

Tamaki. The summer adventures of two friends,
Rose and Windy. The story is a coming of age story
in the small beach town of Awago.

Mariko Tamaki is Jillian

Tamaki’s cousin. She is a
Canadian writer and artist.
They have collaborated on
This One Summer and Skim.
She now writes for DC
Comics and Marvel.

This One Summer is illustrated

entirely in shades of indigo,
traditionally comics are made in
black, how does this alter the
work?
There is not text in every frame,
how is information communicated
other than text?
How do they balance imagery and
text?
How is the frame cropping used to
This One Summer won the Caldecott Medal in 2014. create emphasis?
How might working
The Caldecott is awarded to the artist of the most
collaboratively change an artists
distinguished children’s picture book each year for
ages up to 14 years. It was the first graphic novel to perspective of an artwork that is
based on personal experience?
be nominated. This One Summer is intended for
readers 12+, with more mature themes, as a result
its award has been challenged because most
winners are targeted toward younger readers.

How does audience have to be considered when

creating an artwork?
How is artwork censored? How might this be
harmful?
What are different ways you may want the world
responds to your work?
 THEY SAY BLUE
In Tamaki’s first children’s book she paints a
young girl exploring the world around her
through color and curiosity. The girl
considers color through what she can and
cannot see, looking at different perspectives.
The book was a Caldecott Honor Winner.

“The text and art work together beautifully

to evoke mood…Tamaki's expressive
splashes of color convey real emotion
throughout” - Jan Carr

How does Tamaki’s style change between her graphic novels and her children’s book?
How has the change in audience affected her work?
How does Tamaki use color in this They Say Blue? How is the color successful?
Does the color change her artwork? Would color work in her other artwork?
How has painting changed her artwork?
How does she utilize the spread of two pages?
How does she explore the relationship between positive and negative space?
Tomer Hanuka
The Divine is a graphic novel
illustrated by the Hanuka
brothers and written by Boaz
Lavie. The Divine takes place in
fictional Southeast Asian
country where the main
character, an explosives expert,
has freelanced to help the
military. He becomes involved
with a group of child soldiers
who are stirring a conflict
between modern technology
and ancient magic.
Tomer Hanuka and Asaf Hanuka
are twin brothers. They are Israli
comic book artists and
illustrators. They have
collaborated on several works
such as Bipolar, The Divine, and
others.
How is color used in these works?
Many of these frames encompass
the whole page, how do they use
the composition?
How does their collaboration
operate in their work?
Asaf Hanuka
The Hanuka brothers and Tamaki
both use color in unique ways in
their works, how is their use of
color similar and different?
Does the use of more colors add or
detract from the work?
Which artists work more resembles
traditional comics?
How does the style of each artists
work reflect the content?
How do these artists employ text
similarly and differently?
 Art Making:
Creating your own Narrative
Vocabulary:
Character:
a person in a novel, play, or movie.
Setting:
the place or type of surroundings
where something is positioned or
where an event takes place.
Conflict:
struggle between opposing forces.
Plot:
events that make up a story. These
events relate to each other in a pattern
or a sequence
Exposition:
a literary device used to introduce
background information about events,
settings, characters, etc.
Rising action:
series of relevant incidents that create
suspense, interest, and tension in a
narrative.
Climax:
the highest or most intense point in the
development or resolution.
Falling action:
raps up the narrative, resolves its loose
ends, and leads toward the closure.
Resolution:
unfolding or solution of a complicated
issue in a story.
Theme:
a central topic a text treats.
You are going to create your own narrative
through visuals and text. This is going to be a
fully developed narrative containing a
beginning, middle, and end.
The narrative should relate to your own
individual experience, through your interest,
identity, life experiences, future desires, cultural
history, etc. You should be invested in your
story.
Your narrative should feature several characters
with developed personalities, just as you have
many “characters” in your own life story. These
characters should interact in the story and feed
off of one another.
Your narrative does not need to feature
humanoid characters, but they should be
identifiable and have reasoning and
development behind their appearance.
Your narrative needs to contain the elements of
a story:
character, setting, conflict, plot and theme. It
also needs to contain the elements of a plot:
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action,
and resolution.
You will contain this story in a book of your
making and consider the book as a whole during
creation. Considering page structure,
composition, and color.
To practice creating a story in a sequence of
frames create a short comic of a part of your
day. Featuring multiple characters, interaction,
and a resolution. This can be as short as 5
frames.
 Art Making:
Character Development
When incorporating narrative into
artwork there is more to consider than
visuals. Just as you choose your outfit
every morning, how you style your hair,
and present yourself, so your characters
would in their own world. When deciding
who will be featured in your narrative
you also have to consider how they
would present themselves to the world.

In the work at the left, Tamaki has created

many babysitter characters. Each one has a
different style and appearance, and each one
seems to have a different personality. Since
we cannot speak to them all of this comes
from the visual characteristics she has
illustrated.

How has she made them unique?

What elements of each give you clues to
their personality?

Characters don’t always stay the same

throughout a story. Above are two of
Tamaki’s sketches of the same character at
different points. Obviously they have
changed over time.

Create 10 sketches of your own

characters for your narrative.
Consider the activities the may
partake in, the weather, their
personality, their style. How will they
style their hair? What is their
posture? How are you going to
visually communicate who they are
without words?
 Art Making:
Story Boarding
When creating a narrative it is best to
plan your story in advance. Many artists
do this by storyboarding. For your
narrative create a story board. Consider
how you will use your pages, will you
break them into segments? Use the
whole page? Use a spread?

It is best to start by writing a list of your

story and then expanding that into visual
formats.

What is a storyboard?

A storyboard is a graphic
organizer in the form of
illustrations or images displayed
in sequence for the purpose of
pre-visualizing visuals that are
displayed in a sequence.

Segmenting
Graphic novels are often broken into
segments which feature different
viewpoints on the story. These can be from
different perspectives, show different
subjects, or zoom in on important features.
They are used as a framing device and
provide emphasis on important elements of
the story. As well as utilize the page space
in a productive manner.
Consider what your pages will look like and
how you would like to break them up.
How will you arrange your segments
compositionally? What will you
emphasize? How will you fit your
segments on the page?
Dialogue, thoughts, text and words
You do not have to include text in your work but
you must have a clear narrative that has
interaction between characters. If you are going to
include text you have to consider how you will do
so. Why are you including text? Will there by text
bubbles? Overlaid text? How will the text bubbles
interact with the image? Will thoughts be
displayed?
If you are not going to include text then how will
you indicate interaction between characters? How
will your narrative be clear? Why are you not
including text?

Begin to break your story into smaller

segments, considering what aspects you Create 5 sketches exploring different ways of
believe are visually important to the story. including text or leaving it out.
 Bibliography:
Bausells, M. (2017, June 13). Graphic novelist Jillian Tamaki: 'Our brains are being rewired to exist online'. Retrieved
from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/13/jillian-tamaki-super-topical-boundless-interview
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (n.d.). Case Study: This One Summer. Retrieved March 18, 2019, from
http://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-this-one-summer/
Davis, E. (2017, June 5). A Conversation with Jillian Tamaki. Retrieved from http://www.tcj.com/a-conversation-with-
jillian-tamaki/
Hanas, J. (2011, March 23). Jillian Tamaki. Retrieved from https://www.commarts.com/features/jillian-tamaki
Hanuka, A. (n.d.). Asaf Hanuka. Retrieved from http://www.asafhanuka.com/about-1
Hanuka, T. (n.d.). Tomer Hanuka. Retrieved from http://thanuka.com/info
SuperMutant Magic Academy. (2018, March 22). Retrieved from https://www.drawnandquarterly.com/supermutant-
magic-academy
Tamaki, J. (n.d.). Jillian Tamaki. Retrieved from http://jilliantamaki.com/about/
Tamaki, J. (n.d.). Mutantmagic. Retrieved from http://mutantmagic.com/about
Tamaki, J. (n.d.). Jillian Tamaki Sketchblog, etc. Retrieved from http://blog.jilliantamaki.com/category/supermutant-
teen-academy/