New Start of Year 2014

The Cartoon Studio 2014We made it!

It is with great pride that I write. A new start of the academic year, what appears to be a great cohort and a brilliant studio. There is a few people I'd like to thank at the start from this piece, and they include the FACT Management, including Astrid and Mark Garner and Fin Dineen for their faith and support. The Technicians lead by the Fearless Harry Porter have poured sweat and tears into the moving of the equipment and supplying new stuff. For Gareth for his painting skills! and the students, Will Vaughan and Kieran Hayes who did so much for the mural. But a special thanks has to go to Becci Such my PA is waiting, DIY, Painter, Wall paper-er and artist for giving up so much of her summer along with her boyfriend Liam. I am in their debt!

Here is a brief history in images of the birth of the cartoon and comic arts area at Staffordshire University

The Start - What we inherited 

 as you can see from the outset we were up against it with the amount of stuff that had been left behind by the Fine Art team. 

So from this position we had to start to clear the area so we could get in there, clean it and start to decorate it. Unfortunately some of the new equipment arrived so it caused a bit of a bottle neck getting the old stuff out and our stuff in.

 The reduction of Fine Art stuff made the area look a lot better, but there was still a lot of work. The are had basically bee left to fall into ruin, and probably hadst been cleaned out for many a year.

It was going to be a tough job, and with the introduction of a new server the area had to be abandoned for a month while work was being completed.

An when we got back we found this stuck in the middle of a perfectly good teaching area!!

With everything cleared out, the area took a lick of paint well.

 Above is a before and after of the same place.

Table Build

Journalism donate their old desks to Cartoon & Comic Arts. Thanks

 A Finished Room for 1st Year Students

 The painting of the stair well

Becci Such and John Charles drawing together

Adding a little bit of humour to the room

 John Charles (MarvelUK & 2000AD) Will Vaughan cartoon student

Becci Painting

 From top of the stairs down wards, Becci Such, Kieran Hayes and William Vaughan

Becci Tries her hand at wall papering, under the watchful eye of Liam 

TA DA! the finished thing, and it is still hanging.

New Studio

New Studio

I feel at long last we are finally getting there in our attempt to turn a pit into a new studio space. We've still got a few issues but I feel the biggest part is over and done now and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Though to say its been a swift transition is an under statement.

Just a reminder of the state that the room was handed over. This believe it or not is after it had been cleaned/swept. So you can see the sort of devastation that surrounded it!!

I was forced to leave the building during June as they had to rework the wiring and install a state of the art internet system. What they failed to tell me was that they were installing it in the middle of a teaching/seminar room. Let me reassure everyone that if you don't pass your degree in Comic Arts then you could always try the IT department as you don't need any brain power to work there!!

First the walls were painted then the floor.

The top right of this picture is what is shown in the very first one of this blog. This is with the walls and floor painted and cleaned.

As you can see from the above image, the painting of the floor took a bit of time. there is so much dust in this area it keeps settling on freshly painted areas and making them look old.

The above images show the construction and the build of the desks in the cartoon 1st Year studio. I assembled the whole set up by myself. 

There is still a bit of work to do, but It is all Cartoon & Comic Arts stuff, So table chairs and lockers need to be put in place and some how we need to get the Comic Stand up the stairs and through the doors to our new studios.......Ideas please!?

These are our recently added images for the stair well leading to the room and hopefully come September these will be painted and inviting both old and new students to the fantastic world of Cartoon & Comic Arts