TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — For the fourth consecutive year, Troy University’s theatre and art departments are holding the Summer Spotlight series.

Part of the series is COMICAMP, which transforms students aged eight to 14 into comic book artists.

“[It’s] a practical experience in building a progressed story that they invent that they create and develop characters for,” COMICAMP Coordinator Greg Skaggs said. “They produce a comic book, then we make copies of their book that they trade with their campmates. They do promotional materials, posters, buttons, stickers, and things like that.”

Students are given total creative control over their projects, but they do not do it entirely on their own.

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“The counselors have created presentations where they teach things about developing a story to learning how to draw a figure, hands, feet, faces, general expressions, how to do characters, create characters,” Skaggs explained.

Although Troy University professors lead the way, they do not have all the answers.

“Our students in our department have been teaching most of the classes,” Skaggs revealed to TrojanVision. “They also do an introduction showing their work, that they are actual makers of art, not just teachers of art.”

At the end of the camp, students screen print and create their own shirt for the camp.