Teaching

I’ve been a visiting lecturer since 2012, speaking regularly over the years at Dundee University, Edinburgh Napier University, and Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design, where I also acted as an assistant for a couple of semesters. For games I’ve presented lectures many times at Abertay University on all aspects of game and concept art and The Develop Game Conference on character customisation systems and concepts. I’ve also given guest lectures at the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, , The Scottish Centre for Comics Studies, The Cheltenham Literary Festival, and numerous international comic festivals including New York and Melbourne. I delivered two papers at the International Graphic Novels and Comic Conference, chaired other events, and been published in academic journals. I’ve been a freelance writer/artist since 2012, published by Titan, Marvel, DC, and 2000ad across the English speaking world and by Delcourt in Francophone countries. I hold a Masters with Distinction in Comics and Graphic Novels from the University of Dundee, winning the Duncan of Jordanstone Prize for academic work.

My lectures can be tailored to suit but the most popular use my experience in the following areas: concept art, game art, writing comics, creating short comic stories, character design, narrative design, earning a living as a writer and artist, crowfunding and publishing. I also focus on very specific areas when appropriate, such as Character Customisation Systems, The History of Marvel Comics, Exploring the Borders between American Muslim, Female and Superhero Identities, the Formal Properties of Comics in Conveying Meaning, and the Early Short Sci-fi Somics of Alan Moore.

You can contact me at — itsmontynero at gmail dot com — or use the contact form on this site. More recently lectures have been delivered via Zoom or similar software due to practical/coronavirus restrictions.

Photos – (top) lecturing at Dundee University, (mid) on stage in Melbourne with Tom Taylor, Rachel Smith, and Ryan K Lindsay, (bottom) signing with Mike Carey and Alan Cowsill during the Cheltenham Literary Festival .