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!

 

Degree Show Success

Degree Show

Cartoon and Comic Arts goes from Strength to Strength

Another year has drawn to an end and so has the Cartoon and Comic Arts award. This year saw students put on the biggest and best degree show ever. 

With 21 students graduating this year it was clearly the largest cohort to date to go through the 3 years. Along the way we've made a few tweaks to ensure we still provide one of the best and original award in the UK. 

After the initial set up of the area, this time we held our show in the life drawing room, which does seem appropriate as it is one of the awards main teaching rooms. 

We went fro a corporate feel to the event, though this is what was intended with the red banner along the top and the grey skirting board. The aim was to get it more reflect the catalogue that was produced to go along with the show.

The opening night was good and we tried to organise a portfolio review for students, so they could bring their portfolios in and see what industry professionals would say was missing for 3rd years, or for 2nd years for them to things that they could concentrate on in their final year.

 Above is a panoramic view of the cartoon and comic arts degree show space. 

There was a selection of refreshments at teh event which seemed to go down well amongst the guests and the students!!

Students talked with a range of visiting people about their work and sold a fair amount of their comic work during the night. 

Azzuro Zito has a swift drink before talking about his work to a VIP

Zu handled himself perfectly with the arrival of the Lord Mayor for Stoke-on-Trent.

            

Obviously the Lord Mayor want to chat with a range of students and people about their work. But overall the Mayor was impressed with what he saw at the event, taking specific time to look and talk to students about their stories and their artwork. 

The night also had to honoured guests from Industry to chat and talk to people about the work. Kevin Gunstone is a well re-known comic book writer, with several of his work current in production 

above are a couple of images of students at the degree show.

Along with individual students talking about their individual work, above Nadia Williams and Tara Washington talk about their start up company Tanra Studios. This is a project that both the ex students have been working on since the success of going to MCM at the end of their second year on the award. They had a similar idea about this corporation of people who are able to enter peoples dreams and sort out their problems.

Above - the area also had its own pop up comic stand where students work which was published went on sale.

Here is a range of work that was on sale and available during the week long the degree show.

The room was generally well full for the entire night as mother fathers and honoured guests mingled and studied a range of work on display 

StokeCon #4 Sold out

StokeCon#4

I'm happy to say that the next StokeCon on Sunday 17th April has already sold out. This time cartoon and Comic arts have a larger presence at the event. Not only is there more artist that ever attending the event but also the Comic Arts award has a dedicated area where the next generation of comic artist will be selling their work.

 

 

You can see some of the student artwork which is gracing the front cover of the event. We asked the students to draw some of the guest who were attending the event. The idea is we get the artist and the guest to sign the artwork and then raffle it off.