April 29, comic book artist Alex Simmons, known for his work from Archie Comics and Batman, taught a short class to Schuylkill County youths at the Pottsville Public Library during the Block of Art event. Mr. Simmons could not make it in person, as he was at the East Coast Comicon in Secaucus, New Jersey, but he was able to live conference with the library in order to give a complete lesson, as well as some tips from the industry.

“The most important thing to remember is to keep working at it,” Simmons said.

His lesson began with talking about the various jobs within the industry, such as penciler and inker, and he introduced several other people in the industry who were also attending Comicon. After detailing how to get into comic book writing, Simmons gave the group of students an opportunity to create their own characters. He began by asking the group what type of stories they like, and then asked everyone attending to draw a character that would be in that setting. From there, each attendant would give more details about the character. Finally, everyone traced over the original drawing to make a more permanent drawing.

“I thought [the class] was very good,” eighth grader Teegan Moseley said. “[Alex Simmons] was very informative.”

Simmons examined the art and gave constructive criticism before signing off. Several people taking the lesson came out with a better understanding of the industry as well as art techniques. Simmons offers advice to anyone curious, and can be accessed through his website, http://www.simmonshereandnow.com.