For Comic Art Classes Pennsylvania Has A Variety Of Options

By Katina Brady


Characters from the comics have seemingly taken over much of our mainstream culture, creating new interest in the business of paneled storytelling. As a result, young artists and many older fans are now seeking to become professionals. Many dream of creating the next popular character that will rise to the top of the industry. When these artists look for the best comic art classes Pennsylvania is often among their top choices.

In the industry's infancy, artists had two ways to learn the craft. Their choices boiled down to either taking an apprenticeship with an existing professional artist or laboring to learn at home from anatomy books and the works of master artists. That was the same choice shared by all artists for many hundreds of years.

With the increase in the medium's popularity, a new generation of artists felt compelled to teach their craft to the next generation of artists. Joe Kubert, a great comics artist in his own right, was among the first to open such a school. As other artists watched that school's graduates emerge to take the industry by storm, other schools began offering similar courses of study in places like Pennsylvania.

These schools and workshops offer students an opportunity to learn everything from the basics to advanced storytelling and production techniques. The goal of the school setting is to provide each new student with everything he or she needs to produce comics that meet or exceed industry standards. To accomplish that, there are a variety of different skill sets that are addressed in the courses.

Obviously, some skills are common to those taught in other schools for artists. Human anatomy is one such course, and a great deal of time is spent in its study. Comics tend to be stories about people, so artists need to know how to draw them. That requires learning both the natural proportions of the human body, and the so-called heroic proportions often used in these tales.

Students also learn how to use various tools, techniques, and artwork mediums. Pencil drawing is a must, since that serves as the backbone of almost all sequential art. In addition, students must learn to use India ink, using various brushes and pens to create varying line thicknesses and different moods using shadows. Mediums such as watercolor and software usage may also be explored.

And then there is the true heart of this education: sequential storytelling. Most people don't just pick up a pencil and start drawing pictures to tell complex stories. Most have to be taught how to translate a scripted story into a paneled narrative, the proper pace for telling the story, how to vary perspective in scenes, and the way to develop dynamic panels on a consistent basis.

Year after year, the movie industry releases new blockbuster movies using characters from the vast universe of comics. That continuing trend has helped to fuel artist interest in becoming part of the industry that creates those characters. Thankfully, those artists can learn the craft they love by attending one of the fine artist schools in this area.




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