Speaking of 20 Year Anniversaries …
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The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont, is also turning 20 years old this year. They had a small gallery celebration Friday and, since I drive through WRJ several a day, I dropped by to see the place.
I got a kick out of Alison Bechdel‘s piece, which was on the wall (pardon the reflection), because, like her, I remember when CSS launched and a whole lot of us wondered if someone was pulling our collective leg.
But also like Bechdel, I looked into it more and realized that these folks were genuinely getting some worthwhile training.
I had a moment with James Sturm (center), cofounder of the school, whom I had met in Columbus at a cartoon gathering but never saw in WRJ, though we’re barely six miles apart.
I told him that, when local people learn I blog about comics, they assume I’m tight with the college, but that we’re really in different places. I write about comic strips and political cartoons, while his school is more oriented towards comic books and graphic novels.
It is, I suggested, like film and stage drama: Connected, but different.
However, he said, comic strips are very much part of their curriculum, and new students begin with single panel cartoons, analyzing why they work but also being tasked with reproducing the line of each cartoonist being studied. Before they can work on more extended projects, they begin with panels and then strips to learn both graphic and narrative techniques.
There are many ways to tell a story, and Hilary Price regularly pops up from Massachusetts to host a week-long workshop on the sort of quick-take comics that have created her career, while Bechdel is returning November 21 with CCS alumna Tillie Walden for a public presentation on the art form. (Details to follow.)
In fact, you never know who might pop by to offer advice and encouragement.
And in the meantime, students have the stimulation of being surrounded by other students, serious artists who are studying technique and preparing for senior projects and the cartooning that follows, with guidance to get them past bumps and blocks.
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