And we're off!

Year 7 of Cartoon and Comic Arts 

Well what can I say... A bit later than planned I'm back writing my blog for the new incumbent students on Cartoon and Comic Arts. This year we recruited 30 students onto the award and in turn we became on of the biggest art and design courses at Staffordshire University.

Its been a bit of a mad summer, as we changed from faculty to schools and a lot of the management team and admin staff were redeployed, and basically we were left to drift.

Anyway, for some good news, we received 100%  in the NSS  (National Student Survey) for the course. I think over the years with us moving from new room/building/site to site 2 years of building work and having to use the back entrance etc It wasn't hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel coming once, we had settled in one location and the building works had stopped. 

So it's up to us to keep the momentum going, easier said then done, but here goes ....

Pub Quiz.  

Once again big Thanks to the Team at the Glebe who made us feel welcome. and we had a brilliant pub quiz. 

It was nice to see some 2nd years turn up and make the 1st years feel welcome, though we do feel that there was a bit of cheating going on somewhere doing the pub quiz. 

  We really must apologies to the 1st Year for the standard of the prizes they won. But well done for making it through the first week of Cartoon and Comic Arts 

Boxes of Books

Boxes Of Books

Big thanks to Stephen Marchant for donating his comic book collection.

What an exciting start to the academic year as we received an email from Stephen Marchant, Curator and teacher of the Cartoon Museum in London.   Steve was moving house and as a result he had to get rid of his extensive library of comic reference books. Hi comics he donated to GOSH comics in London, but where better to send such an excellent supply of literature, than the only Cartoon and Comic Arts course in the UK.

The books included those of Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb, Jack Kirby, Eric Stanton, Will Eisner, Posy Simmonds, Andrew Loomis, Steve Ditko and Ronald Searle to name a few.  

To Infinity and Beyond!

To Infinity and Beyond!

The other day we had the results from the NSS (National Student Survey). I'm happy to write we received 100% course satisfaction from the students. Lets just say we've got the Champagne on ice ready for when all the staff return at the end of the month.  

But that doesn't mean we can rest on our Laurels. We've still got a long way to go at maintaining this and improving what we do. It is safe to say a lot of it is driven by the students, whose input into the design of the course often goes unnoticed. I think it is safe to say that every year we have added some thing and changed something to try and accommodate the students requirements, without undermining the integrity of what we teach. 

   

This year we are hoping to expand the course, not just with the number of students, but also with space and staff. Overall this will be the largest the course has been with 100 students all studying Cartoon and Comic Arts at the Stoke Campus. 

Welcoming a new 1st year (Level 4) allows us to have a revamp of the teaching space and give them an opportunity to add their mark in a similar vein that last years cohort did. So we're hoping for some really interesting things... again!

The one area that we would all like to see expanded is the Technology side of the award. The Cadman area where we are based seemed to have been left behind when technology  was introduced to the civilised world. But we are hoping little by little that the Connected University will make its way over to us.

Having said that, the main aim as ever is to instil the Cartoon and Comic Arts Mantra into the new students "DRAW...DRAW...DRAW!" We are also committed to make the CCA family as inclusive as ever and try to break down walls and have 2nd and 3rd year students working and mentoring the 1st years in more constructive ways .

At the same time we try and make the course as fun as every and encourage everyone to be a little part of something bigger. Hopefully the while on the course you make friends that will stay with you for the rest of your life!

It's fair to say that some of the ideas we developed last year, were great successes and we're hoping to build on them more than ever. The Film comic that we introduced was a great success and allowed 1st Year students to sell their work at the StokeconTrent event. The money it raised was consumed mainly by the 2 people in the top image (Sarah and Josh!) It was fed back into the course for the 1st year to take advantage of and have a great end of year party. 

Same for the drawing in the Ember Lounge, a chance for lucky diners to have a portrait drawn of them while they waited and ate their lunch. This seemed particularly popular.

So this year we have a lot to live up to, so there isn't a chance to rest and sit back and enjoy the success of last year, its all about making this year bigger and better!

 

Students Graduate

Its a fond farewell to them.... and a fond farewell from us 

Once again we see the 4th lots of students to graduate from the Cartoon and Comic Arts award at Staffordshire University. Trentham Gardens once again played hosts to the final ceremony which the students and staffs saw out in style.
Here are a few photos of the occasion.

View from the Platform party.

The Occasion that everyone waits for, the throwing of the hats in the air

Photo shoots, if only they would look over here

sort of getting there!

Trying to make it work!

Look Left

Look Right

Look Up 

There goes the hats again 

Up in the air and ... 

Here they come down!!!

Gareth, Scarred Head, Looking....Happy(ish)

Degree Show at Staffs Uni

Cartoon and Comic Arts 

Degree Show

June 2nd 2017 

Here is the Cartoon and Comic Arts Degree Show 

Matt Fair, did a story based on Boadicea - "Iceni", he also composed a song and printed T-Shirts to advertise the comic and his work. 

Hannah Stanway - Produced Death Bites, a story about a group of people who have to band together to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Hannah also produced a video (Available on YouTube) to advertise her work as a broken CCTV which records the demise of the human race.

Kale McAleer - produced a web comic which showed how the technology was and is changing for Comic Artist. Is Comic Nanty Narkings is available on line 

Natalie Burgher - Produced Villains Alliance in the second semester which is a story of a group of misfit criminals coming together to steal a Picture from on art gallery. Her first semesters work, The Law and the Lawless is a love story of two different types of people coming together for the good of the town,

Michy Kahuya - Tell the story of a conquering Alien who invades Earth, only to find he can't breathe the air. His only escape is to invade a small dog and control the creature to full-fill his mission.

Shaun Nicholls - Tells a modern take on Tron, of a character who has to enter the realms of the gaming world to find his girlfriend who has been snatched by a mysterious creature. So if you like Assassins Creed or Legend of Zelda this book, "Jordan Saves The Universe" is for you. 

Ollie Humm comic is about strange creatures that live in plain sight that you might not notice. his "Monsters Around The World" tells a story of a girls her finds an old book that documents these creatures and she goes to try and find them. 

Tom Guilfoyle produced "The Black Voyage" a time travelling horror story with a twist.

Lawrence Copeman tells a tale of a traveller who has crashed on a planet and pines for his true love. 

Sam Megaw story "Team Hyperstrike" tells a tale of a young girl and her team of adventurer seekers who will do anything for the right price.

Isaac Hirschfield-Wight Tells a trippy tale of "Terror Twilight" a tale where the inhabitant of an asylum doesn't really know if hes mad or not.

Phoenix Cooper-Morriss  "Mountain Fruit" is about a young Dwarfs first day working in the local brothel. 

Paul Walshaw -  "The Mark of The Warrior" is a tale of a group of individuals who all must challenge one another in mortal combat.

Tony Holdsworth has taken the two best things ever (Wrestling and Space) and put them together to create "Space Wrestling." Raging Bull returns to avenge a suit malfunction which causes him to loose his big match.  

Daniel Johnson - Delivers his take on a Dungeon and Dragons Game he and his friends play - "The Heroes of Hero Falls"

Zach Cobb- Powerful story "Without Us" tells of a strange planet and its inhabitants and how it has survived and flourished over the centuries. 

Meggie Stobbs tells a story of an unlikely alliance between Vampires and other ungodly creatures coming together to face the real true demon

Alessandra Lombardi Continues her "Hermanos" story line, set in a post apocalyptic world, two brothers must find one another to survive. 

Getting Ready for the Degree Show

For the 4th year the BA Hons Cartoon and Comic Arts students will be putting on a degree show with the Opening Night on Friday 2nd June at 6pm in the Cadman Building.

So there has been a lot of preparation work needed to get the studio in a position ready to be made ready for the show boards to be installed.

Keep an eye on the Twitter account CartoonandComic for the show build up date.