Healing Through Comics is a four-week creative arts workshop that invites you to explore your story through drawing, storytelling, and reflection. Comics become a way to see yourself from new angles—to meet the parts of you that are brave, frightened, funny, angry, or longing to be free.

Using paper, ink, and imagination, you’ll create an eight-panel mini-comic that represents your emotional landscape. Each story centers on two key characters: the hero, who symbolizes your conscious self, and the nemesis, who reflects the struggle or shadow self—the parts of you that you may try to avoid but that still shape who you are.

You don’t need any art experience, only curiosity and a willingness to explore the stories that live within you.

What to Expect
You’ll be guided step by step as you create your comic, using the relationship between the hero and the nemesis as a way to explore your shadow self. This process helps you visualize conflict, transformation, and healing in ways that words alone cannot. Whether your story unfolds through rage, humor, fantasy, or peace, you’ll learn to create a new narrative that honors both your hero and your shadow as essential parts of who you are.

By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a personal comic that captures not only your struggle but the creative power of your healing.

Weekly Flow
Week 1 – The Hero’s Origin
Who is your hero? What do they look like, feel like, or stand for? You’ll explore your identity, your strengths, and the qualities that show up when you face challenges.

Week 2 – Meeting the Nemesis (The Shadow Self)
Every great story needs tension. Here, you’ll give form to your nemesis—the part of your story that represents conflict, pain, or the hidden aspects of yourself. What does your nemesis look like? What does it say? Is it frightening, misunderstood, or secretly wise?

Week 3 – The Confrontation and Turning Point
Your hero and nemesis finally meet. What happens when your conscious self and your shadow self come face to face? What shifts when you stop running and start listening?

Week 4 – Integration and Liberation
In the final week, you’ll rewrite your ending. You’ll complete your mini-comic, design the cover, and write an artist statement that reflects how your story has changed. Your hero and nemesis find a new balance, revealing how healing often looks less like victory and more like understanding.

Materials Needed: Paper, pens or markers, scissors, and one personal struggle or story you’d like to explore. You’ll also receive a short tutorial on how to fold and assemble your mini-comic.

Why It Matters
Healing Through Comics combines art, psychology, and imagination to help you reframe your relationship with struggle. Through creative expression, you’ll externalize difficult emotions, explore your shadow self, and reclaim agency in shaping your own story. The comic form makes room for humor, exaggeration, and the possibility of transforming it into something more meaningful for yourself.