Comic Con project at HMP Haverigg
Arts & Enrichment Partner
Learners at HMP Haverigg have been taking part in a Comic Con pilot course, with the aim of introducing learners to the variety of comics available and equipping them with the technical skills to tell stories and produce an anthology comic together.
The pilot course ran over eight weeks, with input from Lakes International Comic Art Festival staff, Novus staff and a visiting artist. Eight learners engaged in the project, some of whom already had an interest in and knowledge of comics, and others who didn’t.
Engaging learners in the Comic Con project
The course began with an introduction to the comic medium and a brief look at main comic features. This was presented by LICAF staff. In weeks three, five and seven a published artist, Mollie Ray, looked more deeply at comic features and technical skills, helping the learners to develop their stories.
Then, Novus staff worked with the learners to continue and develop their comics, by focussing on other art skills e.g. use of colour. They also looked in detail at some comic books with a readers’ club. In the final week the learners watched an online video tutorial from Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard and then finalised their stories for inclusion in issue one of the Comic Cons anthology.
At the end of the course seven learners had produced comic stories for the anthology, all learners engaged well in the project and only one learner left the course due to release from HMP Haverigg. The learners were familiar with each other’s stories and were very open to encouraging each other and appreciating each other’s work. The stories were compiled into an anthology, with the cover being designed by the learners.
The project was a huge success with learners commenting positively on the experience:
“I never thought I would be able to make my own comic”
The course gave me something positive to focus on improving my mental health
“We all worked as a team and together we produced some excellent work that we can all be proud of”
“It was the most enjoyable education course I have done in prison”
“Improved my mental health and expanded my knowledge on a subject I have a real interest in pursuing outside of prison”
“I love the comic book I created and I’m so proud of Haverigg for affording us the opportunity to do the course – thank you”
The work produced on the pilot course will be exhibited at LICAF in September 2025 as part of the Comic Art Trail, where comic artwork is displayed in shops and businesses around Bowness and a ROTL visit will be arranged for learners to make a supervised visit to the festival in September. It will also be displayed (along with work from any courses which follow) at the proposed new comic art festival in Barrow in Furness in 2026.
Follow up project
The interest generated by the learners to the wider prison population has been significant and we therefore planned a further course for June/July 2025 with up to 25 learners on the list. As there is currently no funding available for a full course, we will be providing a full day of input on 16th June to introduce some of the basic features of the comic medium to a new group of learners, then leave them with a project to work on over the following weeks (supervised by Novus staff who have now upskilled and gained comic enthusiasm during our first project). This will be followed by a visit from Charlie Adlard on 30th June when he will deliver a workshop and look at learner’s work.
The Comic Con project has not only engaged learners on the course but has also inspired other learners’ prison-wide to take part in the follow up project with Novus colleagues. Projects like this help to engage more learners in education as well as help them develop technical skills and experience that can be utilised in everyday life, as well as giving learners the opportunity to explore a new potential career path in the creative industry.
To learn more about how we engage learners in education via different projects and initiatives, take a look at the news section.
