01/09/10 - Three Cheers for Bobby Chiu and Stephen Silver!

Ever since 2008 when I attended the Frazetta Tribute by the NCS (link to past CCG blog post) I have been interested in bringing attention to the fact that many of our comic legends are aging and leaving this mortal plane without any legacy of their thoughts and working process. That is why I am so excited to see the latest offering Bobby Chiu's Schoolism.com - online lectures from several of comics and cartooning living legends! (Thanks to James Gurney for catching this and posting on his excellent blog "Gurney Journey"!)


Apparently Stephen Silver is the driving force behind the video lectures from:

• Mort Drucker (Mad Magazine artist extraordinaire)
• Stan Goldberg  (Archie Comics)
  
• John Reiner (Comic Strip artists for Howard Huge and others)

Thanks Stephen! And I hope many of you will share my interest and gratitude by letting the folks at Schoolism.com that you appreciate their efforts!

05/05/09 - Educational Opportunities

Some comic/cartooning educational opportunities coming up this month (don't wait to check this out as these classes will fill quickly!).

School of Visual Arts (SVU) instructors and authors of Writing Pictures and Drawing Words, Matt Madden and Jessica Abel will lead a two week Summer Intensive Comics Seminar at SVU in NYC:
http://mattmadden.blogspot.com/2009/05/pre-mocca-art-festival-class-summer.html

Matt is a good teacher (I attended his one-day workshop at OSU's Wexner Center last summer) and can help you get through the inertia often stymieing a new cartoonist. Some additional info taken from Matt's blog:

Starting the day after Memorial Day, Jessica and I are offering an intensive 2-week class at SVA, the goal of which is to learn how to make comics by writing, drawing, and printing a minicomic in time for the MoCCA Art Festival the weekend of June 6-7. We'll teach in the mornings and afternoons will alternate between open studio time and visits from a group of stellar guest cartoonists: David Mazzucchelli, Becky Cloonan, Tom Hart, Gary Panter, and Kim Deitch! Each will have a three hour session that will be a combination workshop/craft talk/crit.

The roster's filling up fast so sign up sooner rather than later. Info below, registration info here.


If you can't travel to New York then this may be for you: Bobby Chiu's Schoolism is offering a "Build a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio" online course taught by Alvin Lee:
https://www.schoolism.com/
Click on the sample video link to see and hear Alvin critiquing a students work. There are two tuition rates: you can get reduced rate if you opt out of instructor feedback. This "self taught" option saves you more than half the cost of the regular rate!