Cartooning is a powerful medium for all kinds of storytelling and idea exploration, from creative self-discovery and drama to social commentary and personal expression. This course examines the specifics and mechanics of panel, page and scene composition while working toward accessing and controlling the largest possible vocabulary we can. We'll deepen our understanding of the tools of visual and narrative arts, including juxtaposition of images, narrative transitions, light and dark, and rhythmic ideas, as well as practice professional inking techniques. We'll also look at story generation and structure and work toward the refining of initial ideas into workable stories. A wide variety of cartooning and sequential art will be examined.

Tom Hart
Cartoonist, digital animator

Clients include: DC Comics, Tower Records, Burton-Marsteller, Kodansha, Star Wars Kids magazine, United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Sony, Old Navy, Transitions Optical, McDonald's, Metro

Awards include: Xeric Grant

Website: http://www.tomhart.net

Education: School of Visual Arts

Publications include: The Collected Hutch Owen, Unmarketable, Les Exploits d'Hutch Owen, The Sands

Group exhibitions include: American Underground, Angoulême, France; Comix Decode; Comix 2000, traveling exhibition; Westwood Medical Children's Center; Derek Eller Gallery

Intended for artists who are currently working on their own material, this intensive course will begin with a review of thumbnails and story notes. We will help you in determining objectives, creative goals and choosing a project, as well as refining skills and fine-tuning your visual storytelling. You may work on new projects or sections of larger works such as graphic novels, serialized comics and Web comics. Guest lecturers will discuss their work practices, including time management, budgeting and publishing. The course will conclude with a group critique, and will focus on narrative structure, pacing and rhythm, choices in style and technique, and practical suggestions for working more efficiently. There are no course prerequisites; students are expected to have a working knowledge of the techniques, materials, and language of comics.

Tom Hart
Cartoonist, digital animator

Clients include: DC Comics, Tower Records, Burton-Marsteller, Kodansha, Star Wars Kids magazine, United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Sony, Old Navy, Transitions Optical, McDonald's, Metro

Awards include: Xeric Grant

Website: http://www.tomhart.net

Education: School of Visual Arts

Publications include: The Collected Hutch Owen, Unmarketable, Les Exploits d'Hutch Owen, The Sands

Group exhibitions include: American Underground, Angoulême, France; Comix Decode; Comix 2000, traveling exhibition; Westwood Medical Children's Center; Derek Eller Gallery

Matthew Madden
Cartoonist, editor, translator, illustrator, U.S. correspondent for Oubapo (Workshop for Potential Comics)

Website: http://www.mattmadden.com

Books include: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures; Odds Off; 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style; A Fine Mess; Black Candy translator, The Zabîme Sisters

Awards include: Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration

Education: BA, University of Michigan; MA, University of Texas

Clients include: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bookforum, Bomb, DC Comics, Alladin Books, Marvel Entertainment