I teach online courses in graphic novels, drawing and visual storytelling for all levels at the Royal Drawing School. These courses generally run over ten evenings during term time or for one intensive week in July. Past students have won and been shortlisted for the Cape/Comica/Observer Graphic Short Story Prize, First Graphic Novel Competition and Laydeez Do Comics Prize and have also gone on to be published by Jonathan Cape, NoBrow and Avery Hill in the UK and Top Shelf Comix in the USA. I also teach on the award-winning visual storytelling programme at Venster Academy in the Netherlands.
I run a new in-person Memoir & Life Writing Course at the Blue Lights Hall in Appledore Devon and will be offering the same course online from January 2026. I also occasionally offer online one-day workshops on topics including Story Structure (see below).
One-to-one tutoring/mentoring, consultation and editing on your graphic novel or picturebook project is available via Zoom – find out more here.
Upcoming Courses and Workshops:
Story Structure For Illustrators
*Saturday February 21, 2026*
To book email emilyhaworthbooth (at) gmail.com
£120 (50% of proceeds go to on the ground charities in Gaza)
Learn to structure your story using classic three act structure and end the day with a storyboarded picturebook! 8 participants max to ensure plenty of individual feedback and support.
Memoir & Life Writing
Zoom
*9 weeks from Thursday 22 January 2026 – no class 12 March*
Max 10 students – All levels welcome
£225 GBP *SOLD OUT*
Course description as for in-person course above, but online.
To book or enquire please email emilyhaworthbooth (at) gmail.com
Memoir & Life Writing
Zoom
*9 weeks from Friday 23 January 2026 – no class 13 March*
Max 10 students – All levels welcome
£225 GBP *THREE PLACES REMAINING*
Course description as for in-person course above, but online.
To book or enquire please email
Memoir & Life Writing
Blue Lights Hall, Appledore (in person)
*10 weeks from Wednesday 21 January 2026 – no half term break*
Max 10 students – All levels welcome
£295 GBP
Do you have a story you want to tell? Have you lived an interesting life and want to get it down on paper for your family or a wider readership? Have you always wanted to write, but aren’t sure how to begin or what to say?
In this ten week workshop, join local award-winning writer Emily Haworth-Booth to explore the memoir form. The sessions will create a safe space for students to:
- read and discuss example texts from various contemporary memoirs
- work on their own writing with creative exercises and prompts
- share their own writing in progress
To book or enquire please email emilyhbinfo (at) gmail.com
Children’s Book Illustration
One week course, 10am-5pm UK time, on Zoom *SOLD OUT*
*12-16 January 2026*
https://royaldrawingschool.org/courses/one-week-holiday-course-childrens-book-illustration
Outlining the reasons one might choose to make books for children, C.S. Lewis insisted that ‘the third way, which is the only one I could ever use myself, consists in writing a children’s story because a children’s story is the best art-form for something you have to say.’
In this course we will investigate the visual potential of the distilled and potent form Katherine Rundell has described as ‘literary vodka’, taking inspiration from exemplary picturebooks, both historical and contemporary, that elevate the form to ‘high art’, many by artists working in countries outside of the UK and US. We will look at unconventional and daring books that challenge the notion of what is and isn’t suitable for children, while bearing in mind that picturebooks are unique in their dual readership of adults and children, who often read and discuss them together. We will investigate genres and approaches including political allegory, fable, lists, the mundane, surreal dream narrative, and books that broach difficult subject matter, such as Wolf Erlbruch’s ‘Death, Duck and the Tulip’.
The course will include a mix of discussion, quick exercises and structured experiments, with students working towards developing one of these into a personal project to share with the group at the end of the week.
Drawing the Graphic Novel 1
10 Thursday evenings, 6-9pm UK time, on Zoom
*Next course starting in January 2026 – SOLD OUT*
https://royaldrawingschool.org/courses/drawing-the-graphic-novel-1-Spring-2026
This enjoyable and highly structured ten week course is equally suitable for beginners and those with more experience. It offers an inspiring introduction to graphic storytelling, offering guidance on everything from generating ideas and structuring narratives, to inking and choosing tools, in a safe and encouraging environment – now online via zoom. Those with some experience in the form will have an opportunity to reconsider both style and process, receive feedback and experiment with technique.
Where Drawing Meets Words
I co-teach this course with brilliant artist-poet Sophie Herxheimer
*Next course starting January 2026*
https://royaldrawingschool.org/courses/where-drawing-meets-words-1-Spring-2026
How do you stimulate the imagination? Where do ideas come from; can you go out and look for them? How do you respond to other people’s imaginative worlds, whether visual or literary? This course is taught by an artist/poet and an author/illustrator who both inhabit the place where words and pictures collide. It is suitable for fine artists who want to explore the role of story in their practice, illustrators who want to abandon formulas, writers who want to put pictures with their words, or anyone new to image-making who would like to build a visual vocabulary in relation to narrative, poetry and the sequential image. Through a range of experiments in drawing, writing, collage, listening and looking, we will consider how to create exciting tensions and harmonies – between words and pictures, tone and colour, texture and ideas, working towards developing fluency in our individual practice. Throughout the term there will be opportunities to draw from life as well as from our inner worlds, and in response to writing.
Reimagining Ancient, Future and Contemporary Worlds
*Next course starting January 2026*
https://royaldrawingschool.org/courses/reimagining-ancient-myths-lost-and-future-worlds-Spring-2026
Here is what some past students have said about my courses:
“Just wanted to say what a truly wonderful experience it has been. Your teaching came from such a fun, intelligent place – I really appreciated you sharing your super nuanced understanding of comics and their language – I feel it’s completely opened up the medium for me. And also it’s been really empowering – I no longer feel that my drawing isn’t good enough, or that there’s a right or wrong way of doing things, I just feel I can have a go and try and use whatever I need to service the story. There are so many brilliant things that I’ll take with me. I feel my entire experience of comics (as a reader and fledgeling maker) has completely transformed. I also really enjoyed how group orientated and ego-less it all was, I loved the whole group experience. Thank you for making such a lovely fun and safe space for us. “
“Thank you *so* much for the excellent course you taught a couple of weeks ago. It opened my eyes to so many approaches to making comics that I had never thought about, and you made it all seem easy and fun. It was amazing to have you share all your experience and skill with us, I feel like I have levelled up. I’m even making a new comic for the first time in ages, and have lots of little bits of paper stuck to my desk while I rearrange them. Thank you for thoughtful and insightful teaching and comments, and thank you especially for helping me get creatively unstuck.”
“I came to Emily’s Drawing the Graphic Novel 1 class as a beginner, not having taken drawing classes previously, and I have come out of it with the confidence to express myself through drawing. Drawing now brings me pride, calm, and joy. Emily’s course taught me about structuring work on a project to harness and develop one’s innate creativity. She helped me find my own style and unlock my ability to tell a story graphically. She has a calm and reassuring teaching style, tailoring her approach and instructions to the needs of each learner.”