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!

 

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.

Important Links

Cartoon and Comic Arts Branches Out!

Did you know that updates about the Cartoon and Comic Arts course can be found on other sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram?

Below are links to all of the following which are updated daily:

Our Official Facebook Page!

Our Official Instagram Page!

Our Official Twitter Page!

Like, follow and subscribe!

The Semester Kicks Off Again

Face the Comicsequences!

It's a brand new semester with a brand new intake of Cartoon and Comic Arts students!
Today was their first session with me (Claire) where the Fundamentals of Cartoons and Comics module was introduced.

After this the students split into groups and spoke about their favourite comics to each other- there were a huge range of different titles being spoken about: Watchmen, Clumsy, Blankets and many variants of Batman including Dark Knight Returns and The Court of Owls.

This was a great way to get to know the students even better, because now we know their taste in comics (and what good taste they have!).

After this I set them off playing a comic drawing game I invented called "Comicsequences" - basically this takes the basic idea of the game Consequences; where everyone takes a turn writing the next line to make one story together. I took this concept and applied it to comics, so each student drew one panel and then passed it onto the next person, creating group comics together!

There were some brilliant results covering a range of different themes, including a comic about a criminal chicken, a lovestruck robot and a familiar face during a heist!

Below are some of the examples from today's class!

-Claire

 

2nd years write reviews of their favourite comics

Comic Reviews for 2nd year Cartoon & Comic Arts 

Last week we were very lucky to be visited by "The Awesome Comics Podcast"  http://awesomecomics.podbean.com/

Tony Esmond @ezohyez came and spoke to the students about the importance of reviewing comics and what they need to consider in their work and how they can use this knowledge to make for better work. 

An Easter project was set for students to review their favourite comics, here are some of them. 

 Samurai Genji : Volume 1 Review

Story and art by Geoff Trebs

10x7 in ,Soft cover,166 pages

Price: $29.99

Available to read from : http://tapastic.com/series/SamuraiGenji

Available to purchase from:  http://dinmoney.storenvy.com/products/13424154-samurai-genji-vol-1

Geoff Trebs can be found at http://dinmoney.deviantart.com/

Follow on Twitter @dinmoney

"Taste the power of flesh, at the cost of humanity." This phrase carries a lot of weight in this samurai fantasy epic. The story follows Genji Ryu, a samurai who has eaten the flesh of another human being and has been granted the power and long life that comes with it, but also at a price on his path of revenge. In this first volume, after finishing a job rescuing a water priestess for a village finds himself being hunted by the group of people originally sent to do the job he completed. Also the mysterious king of Tamerin has sent out men to get Genji for his own gain.

Coming from a webcomic into a printed collection, seeing the way the art has been transferred to being read online/on a mobile device to print is interesting as I didn't know if it would read as well.

The story is just beginning in this first volume and starts off with a bang, as you get an insight into the personality of all the individuals involved. It also gives off the feeling that there will be such a large world with a lot of depth to go into. We don't really get much about Genji's reasoning or motive behind his revenge fuelled adventure in this volume but I'm sure it'll become apparent within the next chapters/volumes. It's action packed, exciting and tense filled fight scenes make you just want to turn over to the next page to see what's going to happen next.

Trebs' art fits wonderfully with the story as well as its black and white, with all the blank space being black. Which helps add that extra darkness and tension to the work. It's a really beautiful digital style and some of his backgrounds are astounding. The full page images in-between chapters are a good way to break it up and you get to see some more of some of the characters.

The dialogue in it is quite modern compared to what most samurai comics include, but I think it fits into this fantasy world as its consistent and there's nothing out of place. Sadly there are a few spelling errors but not enough that it get frustrating but it is a shame that there's any to begin with.

On the whole though I thoroughly enjoyed this first volume and I'll be keeping up with the webcomic version over on Tapastic as well as buying the next volume when its released. So I say go buy it!

Other Things the New 1st Year have been doing

Cartoon and Comic Arts Continues to grow!

The new intake of comic arts Students at Staffordshire University has once again increased and now the award boast 80 students over the 3 years, and it looks set to become bigger.

The course has also grown with staffing. as well as myself Adrian Tooth the Award Leader - we also have Gareth Cowlin who is a freelance cartoonist whose work appears in magazines such as Private Eye and the Spectator to name a few. Claire Smith has also been recruited as another permanent member of staff to add her knowledge as working as an independent artist in the comic field. She also has a range of knowledge such as marketing and using new technology to pass onto the students. We also welcome back on a more regular basis, John Charles - MarvelUk and 2000AD artist to name a few. Alongside we have a range of visiting lecturers and new tempt staff - Kevin Gunstone has written for everyone from Marvel to DC and is currently working for Markosia. Becci Such as been integrated as Teaching assistant to help with Manga Studio and other technologies. 

So the award looks better than ever 

Here are some photos from the first couple of week at staffs uni

Induction Week saw Cartoon & Comic Arts at the Glebe doing a Comic Arts based Pub Quiz 

Becci Such does the Manga Quiz

High Jinks in the cartoon studio 

1st Years Drawing Around Stoke Minister to learn architecture and perspective

Jason Brindley 2000AD Artist and also Independent Comic Arts helping students to discover perspective

Cartoonist back at the Potteries Museum

With the new intake of comic arts students at an all time high, once again we headed off to the Potteries Museum to do our mantra... ...Draw. Draw. Draw!... This year we have approximately 40 students which is an increase of 100% from last year and possibly as big as we could really happily go.
We have a couple of additional staff to cope with the numbers... John Charles as our chief guru on all things draw.... Claire Smith as a new 3 day a member permanent staff to bulk our independent/freelance artist and Becci Such to help out.

The aim was to get students drawing a range of objects.