Haiga Workshop at Kensington & Norwood Writers Group
On the evening of 26 November 2008 Allison Millcock, the haiga editor of Lynx online magazine, presented a workshop on haiga to the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group. This also attracted the attention of other haiku poets and a number of them attended the meeting.
Showing examples of her work via a PowerPoint presentation, Allison outlined various computer graphics techniques that she had used in making her images and described the ways of combining haiku with appropriate graphics. Successful combinations include link and shift (indirectly relating the text to the image), show rather than tell, and leading the eye from one point to the next. Her detailed presentation also described the use of borders and mats and the selection of appropriate fonts and signatures.
Allison distributed printed information about the techniques she used and the programs she used, which gave a valuable resource to those who attended. The handout also contains information on avenues for publication of haiga, both in print and online. Most avenues for publication of haiga in colour are in Internet magazines, because of the cost of printing in colour. It should be noted that Kensington & Norwood Writers Group regularly includes some black and white haiga, produced by members of the group, in their publication Writers on Parade.
We hope that this presentation will lead more South Australian writers of haiku to attempt work in this genre. Thank you Allison for your professional and inspiring presentation.
Allison Millcock has published a book of haiga called pausing for a moment.
Lynette Arden on behalf of Martina Taeker, HaikuOz SA representative.