0621 - Comic Book Illustration: Introduction

Course Description

From the everyday sweetness and melancholy of Charles Schulz's Peanuts to the hyper-literate personal reflections of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, the medium of comic book illustration has been especially suited to capturing the internal lives and unique voices of creators. Comics are narratives told in illustrated sequence, combining images and text, and are integrally connected to the communicative task of illustration, while having an intuitive language all their own. In this course, students learn how to construct this kind of language (both written and visual), starting with their own experience: They create narratives from simple autobiographical prompts, beginning with the basic design principles of a four-panel comic strip, then move on to a more long-form and complex final piece. Along the way, the fundamental building blocks of comics— panel shape, page layout, dialogue and sound effects—are explored in class exercises. Demonstrations of ink media techniques give students a primer on the classic tools of the cartoonist's trade, and examples of work by significant comics creators are shown.

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

• Animation : Electives
• Graphic Design : Electives
• Interactive Design : Electives
• Jewelry Making + Design : Electives
• Natural Science Illustration : Electives
• Painting Studies : Electives
• Photography : Electives
• Product Development + Manufacturing : Electives