Spring 2027

Making Comics 1

Introduction to making comics as a subject and means of academic inquiry, learning various ways to make pictures and stories using class materials.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lynda Barry3.8/5Jeff Butler

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Lynda Barry

A student rated the difficulty as very low, describing the environment as supportive and caring rather than demanding.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Translate autobiographical stories, interviews and fictional stories into illustrative comics form.

  • Illustrate, label, and compose on a daily basis in journaling style.

  • Identify and apply methodologies for teaching others to create comics.

  • Read, analyze and discuss a wide variety of comics and comics related articles.

  • Develop technical facility with materials involved in making comics including basic ink pens, color pencils, watercolor, Chinese ink and brush, and different types of drawing papers.

  • Design, create and assemble a 32-page publication as a final project

  • Will use comics as a means of academic inquiry, along with active engagement with the latest research and scholarly activity of the use of comics in their field of study.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ART 307 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.33/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 5.0/5 raw quality · 1.0/5 difficulty · 1 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry taught this course with an approach that changed how one student thought about art. The instructor was described as caring and inspirational, helping the student come out of their shell to delve into art as they wanted.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.94 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.88 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.81 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 81.2% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.63 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.62 GPA, 81.2% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JEFF BUTLER is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LYNDA BARRY is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 001Classroom Instruction0 / 160
LAB 002Classroom Instruction0 / 160

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Lynda Barry

Students found the course transformative, with one reviewer noting that Lynda Barry helped them delve into art and come out of their shell.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.63 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.72 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Lynda Barry

A student rated the difficulty as very low, describing the environment as supportive and caring rather than demanding.

Past student reviews · Lynda Barry

The instructor was described as inspirational and caring, significantly changing the student's perspective on art while providing personal encouragement.

Topics

  • Comics as a subject and means of academic inquiry.
  • Methodologies for teaching others to create comics.
  • Reading, analyzing, and discussing comics and related articles.

Skills

  • Translating autobiographical, interview, and fictional stories into illustrative comics form.
  • Illustrating, labeling, and composing in a daily journaling style.
  • Developing technical facility with ink pens, color pencils, watercolor, Chinese ink and brush, and drawing papers.
  • Using comics as a means of academic inquiry and engaging with related research.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ART 307 · Spring 2027

Making Comics 1

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:168:025304",
    "course_id": "ART 307",
    "course_uid": "course_86615681dc2ab22f2c45c29f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025304",
    "source_subject_id": "168",
    "title": "Making Comics 1",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "50b754dbf06fd64f421c18e58d0ef2b8eb86fefaac4b0dacd8583cb3049bbeb5",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}