Make Your Own Cartoon

Cartoons are a particularly compact and concise form of communication -- this is what makes them so effective. But for the same reasons, cartoons can also be ambiguous and lend themselves to different interpretations, as shown by recent global controversies (from Charlie Hebdo to the New York Times cartoon ban in 2019). How do cartoons work, and how can we deal with their ambiguity? Where can we draw a line between a humorous cartoon and an offensive one? Figure it out by making one yourself! In the first half of the workshop, Alberto Godioli will give an interactive mini-lecture on humor controversies; in the second half, illustrator Sanne Boekel will help you make your own cartoon in a sketching workshop.

Alberto Godioli is Senior Lecturer in European Culture and Literature at the University of Groningen, and programme director of the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies (OSL). He has published extensively on humor and satire across media, and he is the Principal Investigator of the research project 'Cartoons in Court: Towards a Forensic Analysis of Visual Humor' (Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study, 2020-2023).

Sanne Boekel is an illustrator and screen printer. She studied Illustration at Minerva Art Academy in Groningen and won the Minerva Art Academy Design Award 2018 for her graduation project Actieshop de Moraalridder. She makes zines, books and posters and coordinates BARRICADES, an illustration festival in Groningen. In her work she uses humor to show struggles in society and everyday life.