NACAE of Comics Art Educators National Association …

NACAE of Comics Art Educators
National Association
                                                A Case For Comics
                                     Why Art Programs Should Explore
                                          a Sequential Art Curriculum
                                                    by James Sturm


        I. An Emerging Medium
        Sequential Art is pictorial storytelling. Its most widely recognized form is comics.
Although comics have been traditionally associated with light diverting children's fare, an ever
growing body of work argues otherwise.
        Over the past two decades comics have been going through an exciting transformation.
From the 1940s through the 1960s comics were the medium best suited to deliver action,
adventure and fantasy. With the aid of new digital technologies, film, video and computer games
are now much more adept at providing visceral adventures to our country's thrill seekers.
        Freed from being the primary medium of adolescent entertainment, comics have
reinvented themselves. Sequential Artists are exploring new genres, using the medium subtly
and powerfully. Great works like Art Spiegelman's Maus have been celebrated, and artists like
Ben Katchor, Chris Ware, and R. Crumb are widely acclaimed.
        Sequential art classes are now being offered at a small handful of colleges and
universities. Their success is a strong case for a more comprehensive sequential art curriculum in
other schools.


        II. A Well-Rounded Student
        As of the time of this writing, there is only one art college or university, the Savannah
College of Art and Design, that offers an undergraduate degree and graduate degree in
Sequential Art. The program, where I currently teach, began in 1992 with six students who
transferred from other departments. Seven years later this Sequential Art program has grown to
more than 250 students. The students come from all of the United States and abroad.
        In the department's first years many faculty members had their doubts. Taking comics
seriously? Isn't this an oxymoron? These doubts have have been put to rest as sequential art
students receive the highest accolades from my colleagues. Foundation professors applaud their
love of drawing and enthusiasm in the classroom.
        Consider the skills a successful cartoonist must possess: life drawing, perspective, design,
typography, color, writing, editing, acting. From lighting and costuming to researching a script
and finding visual references, creating a comic is like staging your own play. The cartoonist
must create a believable, cohesive world.
        The sequential art department prides itself in helping to educate the college's most well-
rounded artists.
                                      This document is free for non-commercial educational use.
                          See http://www.teachingcomics.org/copy.php for complete copyright information.
NACAE of Comics Art Educators
National Association


        III. Passion
        I make it a point each year to go into local public schools with my college students and
conduct comic art workshops. Whether it's elementary school or high school students, they are
incredibly enthusiastic. The public school teachers I work with tell me that these classroom visits
are the most anticipated events of the year.
        When living in Seattle I spent a week working with kids at a school for homeless
children teaching them how to make a comic. Before I started their teacher warned me that they
had extremely low attention spans and that I should not be insulted if they acted out or drifted
off. By week's end each child had produced a marvelous picture story. Tales of lost parents,
gangsters, bunny birthday parties, and Shaquille O'Neal were told. The teacher was astonished
by the energy and enthusiasm her students were able to maintain throughout the week.
        My Sequential Art students are no different. Comics afford them the opportunity to
incorporate their own narratives and interests with their art. They bring great passion to the
classroom, making it easy to teach.


        IV. Sequential Courses Enrich Multi-Media Curriculum
        The tools that today's computer artists have at their fingertips are miraculous and
overwhelming. Sequential art classes, however, offer computer art students the challenge of
juggling a multitude of elements and effects without monopolizing limited terminal space. What
need do animation students have for computers before they can fashion workable storyboards?
        By integrating the varied elements that it takes to create a successful comic book,
computer art students develop crucial skills before sitting down in front of the computer.
Sequential Art is the original multi-media. Its practitioners must orchestrate several varying
elements in order to produce a cohesive whole.
        As New Media and Computer Art departments continue to grow, the case for comics
becomes stronger.


V. Content Provider
        My introduction to Sequential Art class fills up every quarter. It consists of sophomore
sequential art students who, after a year of foundation courses, are eager to get going with
classes in their major.
      It also contains a large percentage of frustrated senior video and computer art majors.
These students have learned all the bells and whistles and can conjure and manipulate countless
images with a click of the mouse. They want to transform these images into ideas and narratives.
        It is the organization of images that shapes meaning. At the heart of Sequential Art is the
editing of images to tell a story. Pictorial Storytelling is Sequential Art.
                                      This document is free for non-commercial educational use.
                          See http://www.teachingcomics.org/copy.php for complete copyright information.
NACAE of Comics Art Educators
National Association


        VI. Marketable Skills
        Most students who enter SCAD's sequential art program have known for years that they
wanted to be cartoonists. Their only question is, "When do I start?" Parents have different
concerns. The most frequently asked question is, "Can my child make a decent living drawing
comics?"
        This question is unanswerable. Success in one's chosen field is decided by determination
and talent. What I tell the parents is that the diverse array of skills students learn creating comics
provides them with many choices in today's marketplace. Ou r graduates work in the field of
computer gaming, video and film storyboarding. They have become art directors, journalists,
illustrators, teachers and, of course, comic book artists.


        VII. Bottom Line
        Sequential art courses are inexpensive to implement. They attract students, boosting
enrollment, and they complement existing curriculum like computer art, animation, and
illustration. They produce well-rounded graduates with marketable skills.
        The economic benefits to a school are obvious. But more importantly, with a sequential
art program, an institution nurtures the intellectual stimulation of an art form and provides a
sympathetic climate for its future practitioners.
        This is an ideal moment in time for colleges and universities to explore a sequential art
curriculum.




                                      This document is free for non-commercial educational use.
                          See http://www.teachingcomics.org/copy.php for complete copyright information.