Ben Hatke at Hollins

We have some amazing speakers at Hollins U this summer. The most recent one was picture book and graphic novelist, Ben Hatke. Ashley made lawn art from his Little Robot book. (You know you've made it when Ashley makes a figure of one of your books.) You may know Ben from his picture book Nobody Likes a Goblin.Or maybe you know him from his graphic novel series Zita the Space Girl, or Mighty Jack, series that will both come together in his next book - can't wait!MJ Begin and Ben had shows alongside each other, so I had to get this picture with them. Alongside the gallery show hosted at our Wetherall Gallery, Ben worked with our students on graphic novels of his own. When he was first going over the project, his gymnast background showed through.He shared all the most important books about graphic novels, like Will Eisner's Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, and everything by Scott McCloud.He also went over their projects in detail at the end of three days. They produced so much work in such a short time!He also gave a talk Friday evening that was very well attended. We all appreciated that he included the inspirational quote from Ira Glass about working hard (click the image to see it larger to read).And everyone loved when he shared Goblin in voices! Ben was a wonderful speaker, inspiring work-shop leader, and he really knows his stuff. Be looking for Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl this fall. In the meantime, enjoy his adorable comics on his Instagram Page.