For Comic Art Classes Pennsylvania Has A Variety Of Options

By Katina Brady


With comic books and their characters now firmly entrenched in the mainstream entertainment culture, interest in this type of storytelling is higher than ever before. Many would-be artists both young and old have a desire to break into the industry and perhaps create the next popular series of books or graphic novels to thrill and delight their fans. For anyone seeking out the top comic art classes Pennsylvania has many options available.

Decades ago, there were essentially two ways to get into the industry. The first was to spend many years studying the greats of the day and mastering the craft at home. The second involved getting a job working as an understudy to an active professional artist. Basically, the choices for aspiring artists were little unchanged from what they had been for all artists throughout history.

As comics grew in popularity, a number of artists saw the benefit of starting schools and workshops to pass on the basic skills of their craft to future generations. Popular artists like Joe Kubert soon helped educate an entirely new generation of fresh, and highly-skilled storytellers. With that success, more schools were created, including many of those now found in Pennsylvania.

At the various workshops and schools, aspiring artists are taught the basic elements of comics work, as well as more advanced story creation methods and production skills. Instructors strive to educate every new artist in every area needed to create comics ready for publication. That, of course, requires a diverse course of study covering many different skill sets.

As might be expected, some of these courses are similar to those found in other art schools. Since comics are most commonly focused on human characters, anatomy is among the most critical skills taught to new students. In these classes, the student is familiarized with the actual proportions of the human frame, while also learning to create the more stylized and heroic anatomy seen in comics.

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.

Of course, no class on comics would be complete without looking at sequential storytelling. The craft of telling a story with pictures is a highly specialized one. As a result, it requires knowledge in a variety of different areas, including things like story pace, panel composition, scene perspective, and how to translate a writer's script into the paneled scenes needed to tell the story.

The fact is that Hollywood seems ready to make even more blockbuster films with themes and characters from the comics. That will only serve to inspire even more artists to take up the mantle and try to break into this industry. Serious students can get the help they need at any of the fine sequential art schools in the area.




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