How do the stories we tell ourselves influence our sense of self, our possibilities, and our resilience? Can we unpack the dominant narratives that shape how we see ourselves? This workshop approaches comics not simply as illustration, but as a method of inquiry: a performative practice for reflection, dialogue, and insight. Participants will explore how visual storytelling can challenge familiar Western narratives and open space for self-compassionate and inclusive perspectives.
We begin with The Tired Hero, a short comic that questions the conventional hero’s journey and its focus on exceptional individuals and achievements, while highlighting the mental strain that such expectations can create. The comics introduces alternative frameworks: collective, feminist, anti-hero, and absurdist, that encourage reflection on different ways of being and acting in the world.
Participants then create their own hero in a one-page comic, guided by the archetypes introduced in the Tired Hero. This individual exercise encourages reflection on personal values, struggles, and modes of action, translating experience into visual metaphor.
Next, participants form small groups to share their comics and explore connections between heroes. Using symbols, arrows, or sticky notes, they map relationships, complementary strengths, shared values and challenges, and diverse approaches to overcoming obstacles.
Finally, the group co-creates a single collective drawing that visualizes how all the heroes interact around shared goals, challenges, or values. These visual highlights collaboration and how diverse perspectives can combine into a shared narrative.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have created an individual hero comic, explored alternative storytelling frameworks, and contributed to the seed of a collective story. They will also be better able to recognize and use hero narrative structures in the stories they encounter and create in the future.
Elise Talgorn is a multidisciplinary researcher and artist who explores how stories can spark compassionate connections between people, nature, and technology. She holds a PhD in renewable energy physics and has…
Andy Dockett is a researcher in the Visual Methodologies group at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
