Cymbeline

Drama Drawing 2 

These plays are running slightly out of order than the ones we did them in!. This is another one of William Shakespeare plays Cymbeline. This was drawn during a technical rehearsal and is something that we had never done before. The light was low, so the students were basically drawing similar to blind contour. Which was a good way to go for those who hadn't done it for some time.  

The scene above was made up of everyone's individual drawings that were scanned in to produce this interesting scene above. The idea came from a drawing by Jason Brindley (below) that showed a scene which once again dictated the way the action flowed from right to left!

Below are some of the actual shots from the play, not the dress rehearsal, performed by the Drama Students of 2018 

Cartoon and And Comic Arts 1st UniQube Exhibition

UniQube Exhibition 

I think we all agreed that the UniQube exhibition was a good experience for the students, even if they didn't!

Above is the main UniQube organisation team along with staff so from Left to right back row - Sophie Jackson. Tina Challinor, Ben Bloss, Akka Moon, Adrian Tooth (Course Leader) Natasha Barton, Lucy Cutts, Kevin Gunstone (Visiting guest lecturer - Comic writer) Front Row - Gareth Cowlin (Leturer) Becci Such (PT Lecturer Independant comic artist AwkwartdBex) - Claire Smith (Lecturer - Independant comic artist TallyB) - Jason Brindley (PT Lecturer - Comic Artist Sevenhedd)

 

Kemo showing Comic Artist and External Examiner Jim Medway around the comic arts exhibition 

Here's the rest of the map cap groups?

Top Middle Bottom

Drawing Exercise 

Top, Middle, Bottom 

Once again the new 1st year were introduced to life drawing at Staffordshire University with a difference. We challenge the student to attempt to make a film noir style of comic using a basic script and a model in a room with props and lights. 

    

The idea is to get the students to physically move their bodies around the model, rather than, as what usually happens, where the students get an easel and they stay in the same location. Even if the students have a really bad view of the model they will rather draw a bad pose than to physically move themselves around the model. 

Film Noir is something that many of the students today have not really encountered and even though we spend a lot of time talking about shadow and the power of that and what it can add to a drawing, students still tend to stay away from it. 

Above the lighting and aim of the lesson is to explore how we can tell the story. In each shot the student had to make a decision of whether to drawn from above, at the same level or from the floor in a sitting position. 

The final scene where the model packs her bag to leave, gives the student to leave a really interesting climax to the story.

Below are some of the attempts that the first year did during the 3 hours session. What the story is, is completely up to the student.  We encourage them to make decisions about the character on the page, is she the victim, who has managed to get away from an attacker and needs to leave as soon as possible.  Or is she the evil person, a potential murder who has committed the crime and now has to get out as soon as possible.  

 

 

Cartoon and Comic Arts Motto DRAW DRAW DRAW!

Cartoon and Comic Arts Motto

DRAW!DRAW! DRAW!

Well its been a world wind couple of weeks and sometimes it is hard to believe how fast it has gone. Once again the 1st Year have been indoctrinated into the course motto DRAW!DRAW!DRAW!
We try to emphasis on the award that, in the same way as being a professional footballer, you have to have the same mentality. SO you don just go out one day a week to play a game of football, but you also have to do exercises to build your skills and sometimes it might not be what you expected. Even Footballers have to go the gym, where they don't get to kick a ball all the time!! 
It is this way that we try and explain what we are trying to do when we take them into the life drawing room or around the museum. What are we actually expecting the student to produce and why?
A lot of the students don't understand why, they do the things they do and in doing so have trouble correcting their mistakes. 
So we try and get them observe what they are drawing. We use the example of getting them to draw their bedrooms, a place where a lot say they spend a lot of time. But it's fascinating to notice that they can draw every DVD Blu Ray, but fail to notice the light switch or the skirting board.

 Above, cartoon and comic arts students head into town to draw around the Stoke Minster. With the help of the local ground staff they found quite a comfortable place to sit down and draw the surrounding area and the Gothic Minster itself.  

 Drawing parts of the Minster itself helps the student to observe what is going on and understand how buildings are made. 



 

 THE TOP OF FLAXMAN 

 From the top of the Flaxman building along College Road you can see the back of the Stafford Hotel and the train station. This is one of the 1st years piece of drawing of the architecture and also looking at the perspective. 

DRAWING THE TOWN HALL 

 Drawing around Stoke Town hall, produced some interesting results. Here the students are drawing the main building... until students from Leicester turn up and park their coaches in-front of the building.  It must be Stoke as a cultural city that brings everyone to it!!

THE TRAIN STATION 

The train station is always a popular destination when learning about perspective. Here is a particular good example of the drawings that can be produced 

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!