The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles not only earned their Comic Artist Badge but gained insight into and knowledge of girl power in the comic book industry at the Long Beach Comic Expo this past weekend.
The Girl Scout Comic Artist workshop was created in response to the huge surge of women and girls that has recently begun to have a much bigger role in both the story and development of comic books.
The mostly male-dominated comic book industry has seen many new female writers, artists and even female superheroes that now encourage and represent strong women. Other than creating art, the event also included working with role models and professionals in the industry.
“This event helps girls explore their passions and is great fun for the girls,” Kenya Yarbrough, director of marketing for the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, said.
This is the Girl Scouts’ second year collaborating with the Long Beach Comic Expo.
Girl Scouts is an organization dedicated to fostering leadership skills, personal growth and inspiring power in girls, according to its website.
Many of the Girl Scouts that attended the workshop were cosplaying as their favorite superheroes and characters like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Terra and Rogue.
“[The Girl Scouts] has a really strong STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math] program and we really love to inspire the girls that they be anything and do anything in this industry,” Yarbrough said. “We want them to recognize they can do it too in a field primarily dominated by men.
“We still have trouble defending girls being interested in this.This workshop is a great opportunity to find out if they like it or not. [The girls’] interests can vary so much, from comic book development [to] storylines, where their place is between science and fiction.”
The professionals who attended the event were from different areas of the industry such as comic book artists, writers and animators. Many of the professionals who attended the workshop were former Girl Scouts.
The workshop helps the girls with scripting characters, designing and coloring. Through a series of exercises designed to help them create and design a story featuring their favorite female superhero, the Girl Scouts got a taste of how much work and thought go into comic creations.
Emet Comics, a publishing company that was founded in 2015 to empower female storytellers and artists, put on the workshop. The company’s website says “more women creating their own stories will lead to more women up on the screen and more women out in the world pursuing their dreams.”
Maytal Gilboa, founder of Emet Comics, was at the event collaborating with the Girl Scouts. This was their first time working together.
“I wanted to create a company that empowered female stories and creators. Comic books [are] just the perfect platform to do that,” Gilboa said. “We wanted to work with the Girl Scouts because they are an organization that is dedicated to empowering young women in all the different fields like the arts and STEM.”
Gilboa hopes to continue to collaborate with the Girl Scouts in the future and to hold more workshops.
“I hope this workshop will help young girls explore different creative career choices that are open to them and to empower these girls to understand that they can make it in the comic book industry,” Yarbrough said.