Thien Pham is an artist and educator at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland. His brand new book, Sumo, released on 12.12.12, is a graphic novel about an aspiring Sumo wrestler. Graphic novels are narrative stories that are accompanied by sequential artwork. The term “graphic novel” is broad and encompasses many different styles and formats.
Thien Pham has also worked as an illustrator on publications such as the graphic novel Level Up, and his food review comic strip called I Like Eating was featured in the East Bay Express. We dropped by his classroom to learn more about his art career and new book, and were treated to a hands-on lesson in how to draw four-panel comic strips, as well as ideas about how to develop characters.