There are a handful of good books that will help the motivated student succeed at becoming a cartoonist. Drawing Words and Writing Pictures may be the best of the lot. This is an ideal text for a 15-week class in comics. It also has guidance for starting an informal collective class. It includes DIY suggestions forContinue reading “By the Books: How to Make Comics”
Author Archives: illustrationclass
Schooled: Chris Ware’s New Yorker Covers
Chris Ware illustrated September’s back-to-school New Yorker cover with a scene of parents turning their backs on their children, immersed in their own digital devices. This week he did another cover that brilliantly reflects how the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings changed the dynamic between parents and children. On this 2013 cover our point ofContinue reading “Schooled: Chris Ware’s New Yorker Covers”
Illustration Concentration 2012 in review
Happy New Year. The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for the illustration concentration blog. We had 39,000 views in 2012. The post that got the most views was a 2010 story about KU grad illustrator Amanda Geisinger working with Spongebob Squarepants. Next is a story about the folk art tradition of Kolam. That story getsContinue reading “Illustration Concentration 2012 in review”
Comics MFA? There is an alternative… No Joke.
Back in the ’80’s, when I told my pal Putka I was getting an MFA in illustration, he laughed, “What’s next? -a Phd in Wallpaper Hanging?” What’s Next? Looks like the answer is Advanced Comics… Stanford is a great university with one respected graphic novel class. But suddenly, universities across the country are offering completeContinue reading “Comics MFA? There is an alternative… No Joke.”
César Chávez: Drawing on Clay, Printing with Glass
Our 2011 visiting artist César Chávez of Oaxaca, Mexico left a great impression on Kutztown University. He also left a number of plates. Ceramics Prof Jim Chaney formed a half-dozen red clay plates, then iced them with a coat of white slip, or diluted clay. He invited César to the ceramics studio to draw. Prof Chaney speaksContinue reading “César Chávez: Drawing on Clay, Printing with Glass”
Moku Hanga, Not a Coffee: Lessons in Japanese printmaking
April Vollmer recently taught a two-day Moku Hanga workshop at the Printmaking Center of New Jersey. KU Prof Elaine Cunfer and I took the class along with five other students. I know a bit about Japanese prints, but had never tried my hand at the traditional Moku Hanga woodblock printing technique. April, a great teacher andContinue reading “Moku Hanga, Not a Coffee: Lessons in Japanese printmaking”
Ethan Ross On Broadway.
I know the purpose of higher education is not job-training. Still, I must admit there is nothing that warms this professor’s heart more than getting an email with the subject line: Hey Prof, I GOT A JOB! Ethan Ross wrote to say, ” I have been working full-time as a Junior Designer at aka NYC. I interned hereContinue reading “Ethan Ross On Broadway.”
funny things art spiegelman said about the funnies
“I’ve been called the father of the graphic novel, but I demand a paternity test!” -art spiegelman. I caught art spiegelman’s “What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?” at Lehigh University. One of the most influential artists of our time, I knew him before he won the Pulitzer for his graphic novel, Maus. Even though we areContinue reading “funny things art spiegelman said about the funnies”
Art Drawn in Blood
Saturday I took the early bus from Kutztown to New York City to deliver a print to a downtown gallery. I’ve shown my illustration work at the Society of Illustrators during their teacher shows, but this will be different. This is a juried “fine art” exhibition at Sacred Gallery, 420 Broadway. Emerging from the Canal St.Continue reading “Art Drawn in Blood”
Will Ruocco & the Secrets of Gig Posters
There are illustrators and presses everywhere. I was in Worthington, Ohio, just north of Columbus, one recent weekend. There was a big street fair going on. A sandwich board announced “Open House at Igloo Letterpress.” I have been to Worthington many times and never knew there was a press there. Will Ruocco was minding hisContinue reading “Will Ruocco & the Secrets of Gig Posters”
Illustration Concentration 