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This blog entry is written by Stephanie Mannheim. She’s the one in the bow tie . . . that is, she’s the one bottom left.
My name is Stephanie, and I’m a summer intern at The Center for Cartoon Studies. I live in New York City, where I just finished my first year at Barnard College. White River Junction seemed like a great place to spend time and meet some great cartoonists—which the Cartooning Studio workshop had no shortage of!
Because Friday afternoon was the deadline for student’s individual projects, many stayed in the CCS lab late into night on Thursday, scanning and printing their comics. Production wizards Jon Chad and Dakota McFadzean were on hand for anybody who needed help.
Friday began with a lecture by Alec Longstreth called “Your Comics Will Love You Back.” The lecture covered many of his personal self-publishing principles (such as “draw comics every day”), and also offered a walk through the steps of the “Dave Sim theory” of self-publishing: Draw, Reproduce, Distribute, and Promote. This lecture was a favorite of workshop attendees, and he received enthusiastic applause. The notes to this lecture are available on Alec’s website, and I highly recommend reading them.
The energy from Alec’s lecture carried throughout the day, where students finished up their week-long projects. For some, this meant finished mini-comics. Anthony Sorge of the Colodny studio, for example, used scratchy, expressive lines and great character designs to create a concise six-page story that became an excellent stand-alone mini-comic.
Other workshop attendees, including Anne Sibley O’Brien of the Telegraph studio, worked on finishing a chunk of their longer stories. Before attending Cartooning Studio, O’Brien had experience working on picture books. During her time at CCS she began creating an outline and thumbnails for her new graphic novel about a young artist who escapes reality by doodling a character called Manga Girl.
Each student chose a page from his or her work to display in the Colodny Gallery. That evening, we held a reception (complete with cheese and crackers!) for the exhibition of comics created that week.
Students traded mini-comics, said their last goodbyes, and headed home ready to draw more comics.
