The Christian Science Monitor's Teresa Méndez writes about the first graduating class from the Center for Cartoon Studies.Image from the CCS home page.
Hat tip to the Comics Reporter and my Dad.
The Christian Science Monitor's Teresa Méndez writes about the first graduating class from the Center for Cartoon Studies.
Very interesting article. I have some mixed feelings about a program like this, which seems different from the Kubert school whose mission is basically nuts-and-bolts vocational, as I understand it.
ReplyDeleteI'll make an analogy with journalism, since I once worked as a newspaper reporter and still earn my living writing. The best journalists I knew never went to journalism school. They majored in history, political science, English, or even hard science, then used that background to enrich their journalism careers. An editor once told me they'd rather hire a kid who knows something about the world and teach them journalism than one who only knows journalism and teach them about the world. I agree with that sentiment.
Re: cartoon school, I just wonder if they're missing the point that cartooning isn't technique, it's ideas. Spiegelman didn't win a Pulitzer for being the best cartoonist ever--he's not--but for communicating great ideas. I knew a lot of kids in high school and college who were excellent cartoonists but quickly fizzled out because they had nothing interesting to say about the world.
Still, I'm sure these students learned some great stuff, and some will surely go on to great things with it. It'd be interesting to survey that graduating class in 10 years and find out how their expectations met reality.