Online Masterclasses
ONLINE MASTERCLASSES WITH INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Comics Declassified is a 10-month upskilling programme for marginalised comics creators (16-30) in the early stages of their careers. Our aim is to remove barrier by making professional skills and industry knowledge uncomplicated so that young people can build long lasting careers within the UK comics sector. Although the full programme offer is Merseyside-based, the online Masterclasses can be accessed from anywhere in the UK.
WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN?
The online masterclasses will happen once a month from November 2025 to August 2026, always on a Tuesday, from 5 to 6:30 PM.
They with be livestreamed on Microsoft Teams and include a Q&A at the end. To participate, you must sign up.
See below who the industry experts are and what topics they will be covering.
Can’t make it? Don’t worry, the masterclasses will be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel at a later date, with added captions and BSL interpretation from the amazing Kate Labno.
Introduction to Comics with Charlie Adlard
Charlie Adlard has been a “veteran” of the comic industry for over 25 years. He’s spent the majority of his time since 2003 drawing The Walking Dead, which finished in 2019, and has received many industry awards for his work on the series culminating in winning the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art.
In his time as a cartoonist, he has worked on many other projects as far reaching as Mars Attacks, the X-Files, Judge Dredd, Savage, Batman, X-Men, and Superman.
He’s also drawn many creator-owned projects closer to his heart like Astronauts In Trouble, Breath Of The Wendigo, Codeflesh, Rock Bottom, Vampire State Building, White Death, Damn Them All, Heretic, and Altamont.
[Photo by Matthew Johnson]
Writing for Comics with John Allison
Based near Leeds, John Allison is the creator of, among others, the comic series Giant Days, Bad Machinery and Steeple. In addition, he created the webcomics Bobbins and Scary Go Round, with his work appearing online since 1998. He was one of the first comic artists to build a daily following exclusively on the internet. His current web series, Solver, has been serialised at badmachinery.com since 2022.
John's comics have been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards (winning twice in 2019), and in 2018 he won the Best Long-Form Online Comic award from the US National Cartoonists’ Society. His work has been translated around the world, with Giant Days currently being published in eight foreign language editions.
His latest series is The Great British Bump-Off: Kill Or Be Quilt, a collaboration with Giant Days artist Max Sarin, for Dark Horse.
Writing and Drawing for Kids Comics with Laura Howell
Laura Howell likes making comics that make people laugh. In 2006 she became the first woman to draw for the Beano, and is currently the artist in charge of everyone's favourite pigtailed powerhouse Minnie the Minx.
She has drawn and written for many publications including Viz, the Dandy, MAD Magazine and the DFC, as well as comic adaptations of Angry Birds and Cartoon Network's Regular Show and Uncle Grandpa. Her artwork was displayed in the 2021 “Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules” exhibition in Somerset House, London, and can currently be seen in the V&A Museum in Dundee. She has illustrated many books for children, including “Where's Gnasher?” and “Secret Agent Nessie” (coming 2026).
When not drawing comics, Laura can frequently be found meeting fans and delivering talks at conventions and festivals, and in schools and libraries around the UK teaching kids how to draw comics of their own.
Webcomics with Shazleen Khan
Shazleen Khan is a queer Bangladeshi Muslim illustrator and author based in London.
Their notable works include Ignatz award winning webcomic BUUZA!!, Eisner and Harvey nominated middle grade graphic novel Saving Sunshine (First Second, 2023), "Sinister Sisters & Other stories" (Abrams 2025) and "What was built to be the ship of dreams? The Titanic" (PRH 2025).
Their upcoming works include "My First Monster" (LBYR). In 2026, their webcomic BUUZA!! is being traditionally published by Abrams.
Writing for IP Publishing with RAMZEE
RAMZEE (He/Him) is an author-illustrator based in London.
He has also written comic books for 2000ad and Marvel and designs and runs his own comics and illustration workshops. His debut middle grade novel ‘The Cheat Book’ was published by Hachette Childrens in June 2024 which won the Leeds Book Award and the James Reckitt Hull Children's Book Award in 2025.
He was selected to take part in the Vaults Festival New Writers Programme in 2019 and was chosen for the BBC's London Voices Writer's Room Programme.
[Photo by Heather Kelly]
Lettering and Design with Woodrow Phoenix
Woodrow Phoenix is a comics writer and artist whose constant experiments with the form appear regularly in Europe, Japan, North and South America.
His strips have featured in many UK newspapers including The Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and the Observer. He creates graphic novels for both adults and children, some adapted for television projects for Walt Disney and Cartoon Network.
His handbound, one-metre-square artists’ book/installation/graphic novel She Lives has been exhibited at venues around the UK with extended residencies at the British Museum and the Cartoon Museum.
When not making comics, Woodrow is a book designer, illustrator and maker of typefaces. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Middlesex where he teaches on the MA in Children’s Books and Graphic Novels.
Comics Conventions with Chloë Green
Chloë Green is a Festival Director at Thought Bubble: The Yorkshire Comic Art Festival, the UK's largest comic art festival, where she has been since 2019. She is a comic creator and artist. Her debut comics work, 'A Crying Shame' and 'A Walk to a Waterfall', were self-published in July 2023.
Chloë is also a studier of comics with a research interest in Autobiographical Comics and People's History, and has a Master of Arts Degree in Illustration with Graphic Novel from Leeds Arts University.
She has freelanced with Avery Hill Publishing, supporting with marketing their press comic publications, volunteered at libraries, and helped revamp Leeds Zine Library.
Outside of comics, Chloe drinks a lot of coffee, and wears a lot of green.
Colouring with Eren Angiolini
Eren Angiolini is a non-binary comic colourist and illustrator from Italy, currently living in the UK.
They have been working in the comics industry for 10 years, and in this time Eren has coloured hundreds of issues for some of the most known and loved titles in the comics industry. They regularly work for DC Comics (Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League) and have done work for Critical Role, Tomb Raider, Doctor Who, Warhammer 40k and many more, including creator owned projects with IMAGE Comics.
Eren is very active on social media, especially on Instagram and Bluesky, and they regularly table at UK and international comic conventions.
Contracts & Rights with Hannah Berry
Hannah Berry is a (sometimes) award-winning comics creator, scriptwriter and campaigner. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was appointed UK Comics Laureate 2019-21.
Berry is the author of three critically acclaimed graphic novels published by Jonathan Cape. The French edition of her first, BRITTEN & BRÜLIGHTLY (2008), was part of the Official Selection of the 2010 Angoulême International Comics Festival; her second, ADAMTINE (2012) is currently in development as a feature film; and her third, LIVESTOCK (2017) won Berry a Best Writer Award at the 2017 Broken Frontier Awards and was nominated in the Best Graphic Novel category. She has contributed comics to anthologies and publications from 2000AD to the New England Journal of Medicine, was a cartoonist for New Statesman and Prospect Magazine, and has been a guest of and speaker at over 150 comics, literature and arts festivals and events around the world.
In her campaign work she is a founding committee member of the Society of Authors’ Comics Creators Network and a founding director of the Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC).
[Photo by Claire McNamee]
Looking for the full Comics Declassified programme? See here
Still have questions? Email sara@comicsyouth.co.uk
