Center for Cartoon Studies
Encyclopedia
The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is a two year institution focusing on sequential art
, specifically Comics
and Graphic Novel
s, Located in the village of White River Junction
, in the town of Hartford
, Vermont
, the Center offers a Master of Fine Arts
degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, as well as summer programs, and is "the only college-level training program of its kind in the United States."
James Sturm
and Michelle Ollie in 2004, with its first class of 18 students beginning their schooling in the Fall of 2005. The first class of students were accepted less on the quality of their drawing and more on their critical thinking
skills, literary merit, storytelling abilities and curiosity.
The Center's first commencement took place on May 19, 2007, with roughly 20 students graduating. In 2007 CCS was approved by the State of Vermont to award Master of Fine Arts
degrees and certificates, which have been awarded to students from all subsequent classes. It currently has a student body of 48 students with an average age of 24. About 20 new students are accepted each year.
The school educates students to be proficient in all aspects of graphic design
and production, including self-publication and promotion. This is a notable step away from the specialized production model of mainstream comics companies such as Marvel Comics
and DC Comics
, wherein writing, pencilwork, inking, coloring, and lettering are most often handled by separate individuals. This inclination is in part due to many of the faculty's and significant donor Peter Laird
's experience with alternative comics
. The State of Vermont Department of Education approved CCS for degree granting authority and the school is also a member of Vermont Higher Education Council.
All the main operational and educational facilities of the Center for Cartoon Studies are located in the former Colodny’s Surprise Department Store Building. Built in 1929, the building is the only Art Deco
building in downtown White River Junction, and is built partially with Antique Verde marble quarried from Rochester
, Vermont
. CCS inhabits the first floor and basement of the building and includes multiple offices, a classroom, and an "open basement studio."
is the official library of the Center for Cartoon Studies and currently houses over 9,000 titles in one room. The Library is housed in the former Bridge Street firehouse, which is currently owned by the Main Street Museum. The Library's collection focuses on comic book
s, graphic novel
s, as well as "books about cartooning – both academic and instructional." The Schulz's collection has grown largely from donations from collectors and publishers, as well as artists.
Special collections located at the Library include collections of gag cartoon
s, classic newspaper comic strip
s, Zine
s and mini-comics, and a large collection of rare and hard to find Peanuts
books, as well as "a near-complete run of The Comics Journal
." Many hard-to-find titles and previews of student work are featured on the Schulz Library Blog.
degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, as well as summer programs.
Each term, roughly 14 well known cartoon artists and others in the field come to CCS as visiting faculty and guest lecturers. The visiting faculty lecture, critique, and discuss with students of the school the student work and their own. Past visiting faculty have included Alison Bechdel
, Ed Brubaker
, Ivan Brunetti
, James Kochalka
, Jason Lutes
, Scott McCloud
, Seth
, Art Spiegelman
, Craig Thompson
, and Chris Ware
.
A senior Thesis
is required at the Center, which usually involves the creation of a full scale graphic novel
or a full year's worth of work.
, Jason Lutes
and Alec Longstreth
are permanent faculty. For the 2011-2012 school year, carnoonist and animator Robert Sikoryak
is joining the faculty.
Students and alumni from the Center for Cartoon Studies have received Ignatz Awards, Eisner Award
nominations and Xeric Foundation
grants for their work.
Sequential art
Sequential art refers to the art form of using a train of images deployed in sequence to graphic storytelling or convey information. The best-known example of sequential art is comics, which are a printed arrangement of art and balloons, especially comic books and comic strips.The term is rarely...
, specifically Comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
and Graphic Novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s, Located in the village of White River Junction
White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States...
, in the town of Hartford
Hartford, Vermont
Hartford is a town in Windsor County in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is located on the New Hampshire border, at the intersection of Interstates 89 and 91. It is the site of the confluence of the White River and the Connecticut River; the Ottauquechee River also flows through the town...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, the Center offers a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, as well as summer programs, and is "the only college-level training program of its kind in the United States."
History
The Center for Cartoon Studies was founded by cartoonistCartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
James Sturm
James Sturm
James Sturm is an American cartoonist, Xeric Award-winner, and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont...
and Michelle Ollie in 2004, with its first class of 18 students beginning their schooling in the Fall of 2005. The first class of students were accepted less on the quality of their drawing and more on their critical thinking
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
skills, literary merit, storytelling abilities and curiosity.
The Center's first commencement took place on May 19, 2007, with roughly 20 students graduating. In 2007 CCS was approved by the State of Vermont to award Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degrees and certificates, which have been awarded to students from all subsequent classes. It currently has a student body of 48 students with an average age of 24. About 20 new students are accepted each year.
The school educates students to be proficient in all aspects of graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
and production, including self-publication and promotion. This is a notable step away from the specialized production model of mainstream comics companies such as Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, wherein writing, pencilwork, inking, coloring, and lettering are most often handled by separate individuals. This inclination is in part due to many of the faculty's and significant donor Peter Laird
Peter Laird
Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.-Early life and career:...
's experience with alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
. The State of Vermont Department of Education approved CCS for degree granting authority and the school is also a member of Vermont Higher Education Council.
Colodny’s Surprise Department Store
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building in downtown White River Junction, and is built partially with Antique Verde marble quarried from Rochester
Rochester, Vermont
Rochester is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,171 at the 2000 census. Rochester is home to the Quarry Hill Creative Center...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. CCS inhabits the first floor and basement of the building and includes multiple offices, a classroom, and an "open basement studio."
Schulz Library
The Schulz Library, named after Charles M. SchulzCharles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
is the official library of the Center for Cartoon Studies and currently houses over 9,000 titles in one room. The Library is housed in the former Bridge Street firehouse, which is currently owned by the Main Street Museum. The Library's collection focuses on comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s, graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s, as well as "books about cartooning – both academic and instructional." The Schulz's collection has grown largely from donations from collectors and publishers, as well as artists.
Special collections located at the Library include collections of gag cartoon
Gag cartoon
A gag cartoon is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a hand-lettered or typeset caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption...
s, classic newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s, Zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
s and mini-comics, and a large collection of rare and hard to find Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
books, as well as "a near-complete run of The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
." Many hard-to-find titles and previews of student work are featured on the Schulz Library Blog.
Academics
The Center For Cartoon Studies offers a Master of Fine ArtsMaster of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, as well as summer programs.
Each term, roughly 14 well known cartoon artists and others in the field come to CCS as visiting faculty and guest lecturers. The visiting faculty lecture, critique, and discuss with students of the school the student work and their own. Past visiting faculty have included Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home.-Early life:...
, Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
, Ivan Brunetti
Ivan Brunetti
Ivan Brunetti is an American cartoonist and comics scholar based in Chicago, Illinois.Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styles, Brunetti's best known comic work is collected in his largely autobiographical series Schizo,...
, James Kochalka
James Kochalka
James Kochalka is an American comic book artist and writer, and rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal...
, Jason Lutes
Jason Lutes
Jason Lutes is an American comics creator. His work is mainly historical fiction, but he also works in traditional fiction...
, Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
, Seth
Seth (cartoonist)
Seth is the pen name of Gregory Gallant , a Canadian comic book artist and writer. He is best known for comics such as Palookaville.Born in Clinton, Ontario, Seth attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto...
, Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
, Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson
Craig Matthew Thompson is a graphic novelist best known for his books Good-Bye, Chunky Rice , Blankets , Carnet de Voyage and Habibi . Thompson has received four Harvey Awards, two Eisner Awards, and two Ignatz Awards...
, and Chris Ware
Chris Ware
Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
.
A senior Thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
is required at the Center, which usually involves the creation of a full scale graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
or a full year's worth of work.
Notable Persons
In addition to Sturm, Stephen R. BissetteStephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
, Jason Lutes
Jason Lutes
Jason Lutes is an American comics creator. His work is mainly historical fiction, but he also works in traditional fiction...
and Alec Longstreth
Alec Longstreth
Alec Longstreth is a comics creator and illustrator living in White River Junction, Vermont whose works include Phase 7 and the .He is a graduate of Oberlin College.-Awards:...
are permanent faculty. For the 2011-2012 school year, carnoonist and animator Robert Sikoryak
Robert Sikoryak
Robert Sikoryak , a.k.a. R. Sikoryak, is a comic book artist who specializes in making comic adaptations of literature classics, producing a mashup of high and low cultures...
is joining the faculty.
Students and alumni from the Center for Cartoon Studies have received Ignatz Awards, Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
nominations and Xeric Foundation
Xeric Foundation
The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations...
grants for their work.
- Robyn Chapman- CCS Fellowship, Xeric Foundation grant, "Theater of the Meek"
- Charles "Chuck McBuck" Forsman- Ignatz Award 2008 Outstanding Series "Snake Oil", Ignatz Award 2008 Outstanding Comic "Snake Oil #1"
- Colleen Frakes- Xeric Foundation grant, "Tragic Relief, 2009 Ignatz Award, Promising New Talent, "Woman King"
- Alexis Frederick Frost- Xeric Foundation grant, "La Primavera"
- Samuel Gaskin- Xeric Foundation grant, "Pizza Wizard"
- Alex Kim- Xeric Foundation grant, "Wall City"
- Alec LongstrethAlec LongstrethAlec Longstreth is a comics creator and illustrator living in White River Junction, Vermont whose works include Phase 7 and the .He is a graduate of Oberlin College.-Awards:...
- CCS Fellowship,2005 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Minicomic (Phase 7), 2007 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut Comic (Papercutter #6) - Annie Murphy- Xeric Foundation grant, "I Still Live: Biography of a Spiritualist"
- Gabby "Ken Dahl" Schulz- CCS Fellowship, 2007 Ignatz Award Best Mini-Comic, "Monsters", 2010 Ignatz Award Best Story, "Monsters". 2010 Eisner AwardEisner AwardThe Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
nominee, Best Reality-Based Work for "Monsters". - James Sturm- 2010 Ignatz Award Outstanding Graphic Novel, "Market Day"
- Melissa Mendes- Xeric Foundation grant, "Freddie"
Documentary
CCS is the subject of a documentary film, Cartoon College, by Josh Melrod and Tara Wray. The film follows a group of CCS students and includes interviews with notable faculty and luminaries. It is in post-production.See Also
- Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & MuseumBilly Ireland Cartoon Library & MuseumThe Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, a research library of American comic art, is affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio...
- Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research CenterCharles M. Schulz Museum and Research CenterThe Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center is a museum dedicated to the works of Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip. The museum opened on August 17, 2002, and is located in Santa Rosa, California....