By Halil Vaughn
Photo by Halil Vaughn
Have you seen “Art of Comics” on your course selection form and wondered what it is? I have. I wondered. That might be because the class wasn’t created that long ago. I was curious enough to sign up for the class this year, and I wanted to shed some light on what we do in this somewhat under-the-radar class.
“Art of Comics was first offered as a class for the 2020-21 school year,” said Mr. Sirman, teacher of the class. “This class doesn’t really have levels ,so if you like the class and are wondering if there’s a CA,” Mr Sirman said, “there isn’t a Comics CA. The closest thing would be CAVA, Certificate of Artistry in VIsual Art. Comics aren’t specifically covered in CAVA, but some students do make comics as part of their individual artwork. CAVA is a four-year program. Most people take Level 1 in Freshman year, and on through Level 4 is senior year.”
“From the amount of time I’ve been in the class,” said senior Charlie Curran, “I think the main purpose of this class is to teach a student how to create and construct comics such as background, wording, and story.”
“One of my favorite assignments we’ve gotten is the Scene to Scene projects,” said sophomore Marcus Joseph. “We’re able to make our own mini comics. We can have our own subject and make our characters say what we want. There’s no script, and we get lots of freedom.”
My personal favorite assignment is scene to scene. It’s a comic that we make from scratch, and I like to draw so I can just think of my own ideas and sketch them out until I make my finished product.
“Some assignments seem to be harder than others at first glance or at the start of instruction, but I find that after I take the time to brainstorm and figure out how I want to go about the project, all is well,” said freshman Allen Parker.
“I personally don’t think that this is a difficult class mainly because it is a very simple concept–we get assigned an art medium, we look at examples, and then we draw them for grades,” said sophomore Destiny Williams.
That’s not to say it can’t be a challenging class.
“A personal struggle of mine that I can improve on is coloring,” junior Nicholas Robert said. “I haven’t done many studies on color theory, which is something that should be incorporated into my work. Overall, though, I’m quite confident in my projects.”
Even if you think your work needs improvement, as most artists have self-doubt at some point, that doesn’t make it bad. Making art is a process, and Mr. Sirman approaches the class to encourage that process. If you’re interested in comics but not willing to commit to the Visual Arts CA, this might be just the class you’re looking for.