TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — The Department of Theatre and Dance is hosting its third annual Summer Spotlight ComiCamp for young artists.

ComiCamp is a week-long program where art lovers, 8 to 13 years old, learn how to create their very own comic book.

“It starts off with kids learning how to come up with characters and how to draw using shapes and things like that,” ComiCamp Instructor Brandon Rice. said. “How to take something complex like the human body and take it down to a couple squares, ovals and things like that. From there they learn how to thumbnail their story, how to do a finished page and then, at the end of this year, we’re actually doing a comic book convention where they get to do a little mock-up and dress up as their characters and act like they’re at an actual like Comic-Con.”

“This year, ComiCamp is under new leadership. This is Rice’s first year leading the camp by himself.

“I’ve been working on getting my own comic book started so it’s cool to sit down and teach other people what you already know because it makes you realize you know a lot more than you thought,” Rice explained. “You can see the parts where you struggle more and learn how to get over that by actually talking somebody else through the process.”

Emily Gooden, a ComiCamp student, says her inspiration for art and design comes from her art teacher.

“My art teacher at my school, she taught us so many things to do about art,” Gooden told TrojanVision. “You can do anything, even if you mess up.”

Kids aren’t the only ones getting to express themselves. Student workers and volunteers also get to dabble and design.

For more information about Summer Spotlight camps, visit the Department of Theatre and Dance’s website.