This section lists art colleges which have courses of interest to those wishing to study for a career in cartooning or sequential art.  It also lists some useful websites, libraries, museums, and tutors who are accessible via their web addresses.  It also lists events and competitions of interest to those studying cartooning and sequential art.  And, lastly, it recommends events or other things which Cartoon Classroom considers of particular value to those studying these specialised art forms.

Recommendations

 Comics Forum :  A site which continuously recommends and directs all those interested in the serious study of sequential art to books and learned works on the medium.  It also  has useful articles, discussions and suchlike on its site relating to these matters.  Cannot be recommended highly enough.  Should be referred to on a regular basis for anyone interested in the subject matter of Cartoon Classroom.  Go to the Links section on this site for their web address.  

The Leeds Thought Bubble Festival :  is both populist and academic in its aims.  Has  interesting seminars and discussions on the art and purpose of the sequential arts in all their varied forms as well as catering to those fascinated by the characters, situations and stories that dominate the mass- market product of the manga and comic book industry.  Tickets are still available.  Go to the link in our Links section for more.

Andrew Wildman has illustrated and designed for Comics, Books, Games and Television for over twenty years.  Please visit the site dedicated to his first self penned graphic novel, HORIZON.

Visit horizongraphicnovel.com

This section lists some courses available at art schools and colleges throughout the UK which can help those planning a career in comics or sequential art.  Explore Search for others.
There are very few specialised courses entirely devoted to the study of cartoons or sequential art, but lessons in creating storyboards - the preparatory drawings used in tv and film-making - are common to many, and can help in learning how to create sequential art for other purposes.
Generally, illustration courses are the best option for any art college student wishing to pursue a future in comics or cartoons. If you study how to draw well, you can use that skill in any way you want to - to show the funny or the fantastic, the serious or the silly.

BA (Hons) Illustration for Graphic Novel
at North Wales School of Art and Design, Wrexham.
http://www.newi.ac.uk/nwsad/

Illustration: BA ( Hons ) and
Illustration MA Authorial Practice  at University College, Falmouth. http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/302/courses-7/undergraduate-courses-42/illustration-bahons-174.html
http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/postgraduate-courses-43/illustration-authorial-practice-ma-77.html
 

The Graphic Novel
at the Arvon Foundation, Shropshire.
http://www.arvonfoundation.org/pc346.html

Writing For The Graphic Novel,
Drawing For The Graphic Novel and Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels Short courses
at Birkbeck College, London.
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/ce/modules/FFME094H4.html

Comic Book Art For Beginners
at Camberwell College of Arts.
http://www.camberwell.arts.ac.uk/shortcourses/sc_comic_book_art_for_beginners.htm

Swindon College.
3 year degree in Sequential Illustration validated by the Univ of Bath.
www.swindon-college.ac.uk

BA in Illustration for Graphic Novels at Glyndwr University.
www.glyndwr.ac.uk

Winchester School Of Art : www.wsa.soton.ac.uk

Edinburgh College of Art : Illustration – BA (Hons) and Masters courses available - http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=239,
http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=461.
Animation – BA (Hons) and Masters courses available - http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=214 , http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=400.

Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen :
http://www.graysdigitalmedia.co.uk

Glasgow School of Art : BA (Hons) in Visual Communication - http://www.gsa.ac.uk/gsa.cfm?pid=172
 

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD)
University of Dundee BA/BA Hons programmes in the School of Media Arts & Imaging - Animation, Illustration and Time Based Art & Digital Film
http://www.imaging.dundee.ac.uk

AIH: Higher National Diploma in Illustration at Ballyfermot College Of Further Education, Dublin - http://applications.bcfe.ie/courseinfo.php?course=48 includes study of sequential art.  Animation Courses also available.

Edinburgh Napier University has a Creative Writing course which includes writing for the graphic novel - http://www.courses.napier.ac.uk/W54719.htm

Sequential Design and Illustration MA (PGCert PGDip) at the University of Brighton - http://courses.brighton.ac.uk/course.php?cnum=216

MLitt in Comics Studies - Dundee University : http://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/prospective/postgraduates/comicstudies

Univ of Brighton ( BA ) - Sequential Design and Illustration ( MA )  www.brighton.ac.uk

Oxford Brookes University - Illustration Narrative and Sequential ( Swindon ) 3 yr full-time ( BA )  www.brookes.ac.uk

University College, Falmouth - Illustration : Authorial Practice www.falmouth.ac.uk

University For The Creative Arts - Graphic Storytelling And Comic Art ( MA )  www.ucreative.ac.uk

University of Kent  - ( Phd/ MPhil/MA by research Cartoons and Caricature ) www.kent.ac.uk

The Princes Drawing School - Weekend Caricature Master Class  www.princesdrawingschool.org

SCOLA - Sutton College Of Learning For Adults - Introduction To Cartooning  www.scola.ac.uk

Merton Adult Education - Family Cartoons  www.maec.ac.uk

The Institute ( Formerly Institute of Hampstead Garden Suburb ) - Try Cartooning - Cartooning For Fun And Profit  http://hgsi.ac.uk

London Art College - Cartooning Diploma Art Course  www.londonartcollege.co.uk

Warners Education Association ( WEA ) - The 20th Century Social Cartoon  www.wea.co.uk

Central St Martins College of Arts and Design - Cartooning Fundamentals  www.csm.arts.ac.uk

Bristol Folk House Co-operative - Cartooning For Improvers - Cartooning Workshop - Cartoons and Comics  www.bristolfolkhouse.co.uk

Walford and North Shropshire College - Cartooning Introduction  www.wnso.ac.uk

Telford College of Arts and Technology -  Hand Drawn Cartoons Level 1  www.tcat.ac.uk

London School of Journalism - Cartooning Diploma  www.lsj.org/web/cartooning.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many web sites can help in the study of cartoon and comic art. Some show the history of the medium and examples from some of its best creators. Others demonstrate the techniques involved in the creative processes of cartoon and comic strip art. More in the Links section.

The British Cartoon Archive
http://library.kent.ac.uk/cartoons

 Reading With Pictures - www.readingwithpictures.org.  This is the website of a US organization that is trying to increase the recognition of sequential art as a valuable art study subject as well as a useful tool in general education. An interview with the site's founder - Josh Elder - is attached at the bottom of this page. See Staff Room for tutors of comic art who voice similar views.

www.learncartooning.co.uk  Paul Solomons' online Freelance Cartooning correspondence course.

Anyone interested in learning drawing skills of any kind can find a range of valuable instructional books at their local library. Libraries can also be a valuable source of local information on art study groups, such as life classes and workshops.
And many libraries are now running cartooning workshops of their own, having found them a consistently successful addition to the services they offer - particularly in encouraging creativity and literacy skills amongst people who aren't excited by more conventional studies. They bring new readers through their doors and encourage old ones to return.
Listed below are libraries which regularly run cartoon workshops, or have run them in recent times. If your local area library is not on the list, ask them to consider the possibility of doing so. If they doubt the value of these workshops, we'll gladly supply them with glowing testimony from libraries who've run them with great results.

Brent Council - Libraries, Arts & Heritage,
Brent House
Ground Floor East
349 - 357 High Road, Wembley
Middlesex HA9 6BZ
Tel 020 8937 3419, Fax 020 8937 3008

http://www.brent.gov.uk/home.nsf/Pages/LBB-1?OpenDocument&pid=100009

If your local museum and gallery doesn't have artwork from local cartoonists or sequential artists on show, ask them if they have any in their collections. Some have, but can't advertise the work and display it because of space restrictions.
Regrettably, very few galleries and museums have examples of this kind of art in their possession, though I'm sure many could be persuaded to explore the possibility of acquiring some if they were reminded that it was as important in representing the artistic endeavours of their area as the work of any other local artist might be. You could suggest to your local museum that they add some cartoon and comic art to their archives if you happen to know there are professional cartoonists living and working around you.
Listed below are a few museums which do possess cartoon art in their collections. Others are listed here which have fine examples of watercolours and childrens book illustrations. These are often allied to cartoon and comics art, and are worth viewing for all those interested in studying the medium seriously.

The Cartoon Museum, London : http://www.cartoonmuseum.org/

The British Cartoon Archive, Canterbury : http://library.kent.ac.uk/cartoons/

The Political Cartoon Gallery : www.politicalcartoon.co.uk

Linley Sambourne House, London : www.rbkc.gov.uk/linleysambournehouse/

Hogarth's House. London : www.hiddenlondon.com/hoghouse.htm

Seven Stories, The Centre For Childrens Books : www.sevenstories.org.uk/

Townely Hall Art Gallery And Museum : http://www.artfund.org/gallery/2453/towneley-hall-art-gallery-and-museum

Rupert Bear Museum : www.canterbury.gov.uk/buildpage.php?id=602

Ditchling Museum : www.ditchling-museum.com/

Hull University Art Collection : http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/museums/museums.cfm/searchazref/80001345HULB
 

Cartoon drawing and sequential art are specialised forms of expression and storytelling, which can only be tought effectively by those who practice them. Luckily for those interested in learning these skills, there are a number of such tutors across the country who can be hired on a part-time basis to do this.
Below is a list of some you may find suitable for your particular needs. Use Search for fuller details on these tutors, and for a wider selection in listings by area.  Online tutorials can be found via the websites in our Links section.  

Steve Marchant : stephen_marchant@yahoo.co.uk  Greater London

Cartoon Museum : www.cartoonmuseum.org  Greater London

James Parsons : www.crazycomicclub.co.uk  All Areas.

Kev F Sutherland : http://comicfestival.co.uk
All Areas.

Stuart Harrison : www.stu-art.biz
Liverpool.

Mik Brown : www.miko-cartoon.com
Greater London.

Andrew Wildman : www.andrewwildman.net
South West.

Colin Shelbourn : www.shelbourn.com/workshops
North West.

Jon Haward : www.jonhawardart.com
South East.

John McCrea : www.johnmccrea.com
Midlands.

Terry Martin : www.murkydepths.com
North East and East Anglia.

Leonie O'Moore : www.lomoore.com
North East.

Sarah Lightman : www.sarahlightman.com
Greater London.

Vicky Stonebridge : www.balnacra.com
Highlands of Scotland.

Metaphrog (John Chalmers & Sandra Marrs) : www.metaphrog.com
All Areas.

Tim Perkins : www.wizards-keep.com
North West.

Paul Solomons via : www.hgsi.ac.uk
Greater London.

 

 

Comics Forum ( see Links ) has published an article entitled ‘The Colonial Heritage of Comics in French’ by Mark McKinney over on the Comics Forum website at http://comicsforum.org. 

 

The Festival is the only - and now the longest running - cartoon festival in the UK. It stages several cartoon exhibitions that run each year for around 4 weeks straddling the festival. It is closely linked with the Professional Cartoonists Organisation, which helps ensure the quality of work on display is always aiming for the best.

The festival weekend features talks, workshops, clinics and other events for the public to see cartooning in action. 40 selected cartoonists are invited to attend and participate. The event has active support from the Cartoon Museum, the British Library and the Cartoon Archive at Canterbury.
http://www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com/events.htm

Jag Lall's "Death’s Door: Ignorance Likes Company '' was used as an educational tool to warn against the dangers of racism in schools across Newham in London.  It has attracted the endorsement of such bodies for good as the United Nations Association of Canada. Another example of how the graphic novel format can be effective in spreading a virtuous message through educational institutions.  More detail about Jag and his book can be found through Search.

The Donald McGill Postcard Museum

The Donald McGill Postcard Museum at 15 Union Street, Ryde, is entirely dedicated to displaying and celebrating the famous saucy seaside postcard art of the great cartoonist, Donald McGill.  Opening times are from 12.00 -5.00, 7 days a week til early September.  Admission £3.50 per adult, children over 5, £1.50, and for the under 5's, a penny only!  Coach parties and block bookings welcome for morning visits.  Check it all out on their website.

http://www.saucyseasidepostcards.com/

Why did you start Reading With Pictures?

Reading With Pictures came out of my cartooning workshops at schools. Over the years, I've spoken with thousands of students and hundreds of teachers.  A pattern began to emerge: Teachers by and large saw the value of using graphic novels in the classroom but were stymied in their efforts by a number of systemic, institutionalized barriers.
The first was that teachers didn’t know which to use or how to make the best use of them.  The second was that there was no significant body of academic research that provided empirical proof of the value of comics in the scholastic environment, thus making it next to impossible to win over skeptical ( and rightly so, given the stakes ) administrators, school boards, and parents.
I realized that I would have to go beyond grassroots comics’ evangelism in order to effect  positive change. I would have to build an organization  with significant resources and institutional credibility.

Why is this organization needed now? What made this the right time to start this project?

We’re living in a moment of profoundly shifting cultural attitudes toward the comics medium.  The graphic novel is the strongest growth sector in publishing, and the majority of the top 20 highest grossing films of the last 10 years were based on comic properties.  Graphic novels have a New York Times bestseller list category.  As a result, cultural gatekeepers ( educators, for instance ) are more inclined to view comics as the serious artform it is.  It also doesn’t hurt that more great work is being produced today than at any time in the medium’s history, and that classic titles are more widely available than ever before.
The concept of media and visual literacy has also been gaining traction in academic and educational circles. Graphic novels—which include incredibly sophisticated forms of text/image interaction as a matter of course—have benefited from this trend for obvious reasons. Media/visual literacy advocates have opened the door for comics to be taken seriously as educational materials, while comics provide a “killer app” for teaching media/visual literacy.

What makes comics and graphic novels such an important tool for teaching reading?

I could probably write a book on this (and Peter Gutierrez is currently doing just that).
I learned to read from comics and they've been my constant literary companions ever since. I went on to be a National Merit Scholar, score a perfect on the ACT Reading Exam, and then graduate from Northwestern University.  My first job out of college was as a magazine editor and, aside from writing comics professionally, I also freelance for the Chicago Sun-Times.  Comics helped enhance my vocabulary and taught me the invaluable skill ( especially in the digital age ) of learning to pair words with images in order to more effectively communicate one's message.  Comics taught me to love literature, to love reading, to love art, and to love writing.  They were a ladder for my scholastic development, not a crutch.  Take the study of Shakespeare, for example.  Nothing kills love of the bard more surely than being forced to read him.  Shakespeare himself only intended his plays to be read by actors—otherwise he wouldn’t have, you know, written plays.  The visual component is absolutely essential to understanding and appreciating Shakespeare, and since his plays are only dialogue, they can be translated with fidelity into a graphic novel.

What has the reaction been among teachers toward using graphic novels in the classroom?

Overall, staggeringly positive.  No teacher can ignore graphic novels anymore, and few would deny that graphic novels are successful in reaching otherwise unreachable students.  We want to take full advantage of this paradigm-shifting moment to help educational institutions bring graphic novels into the classroom, where they belong.

You’re partnered with Northwestern University. How did that partnership come about and what will it mean in the future for Reading With Pictures?

The partnership with Northwestern is one of the most exciting things about the Reading With Pictures project.  A major research university studying comics is news all by itself, and we’re hoping that it will inspire other universities to do the same.  I’ve also had discussions with the MFA program at Northwestern about creating interdisciplinary courses that focus on creating graphic novels.

 

Cartoon Classroom now has a page on Facebook.  Visit and like us!  You can post your views and give us your feedback.  You can also use it to tell us about anything going on in your area that we've yet to feature here in our pages - anything about the study of cartooning and sequential art in the UK and Ireland - exhibitions, art courses you've discovered, new museums opening, good instructional videos you can tell us about.  And tell all your Facebook friends about our page and this site if you feel it can help them, or if they can help us by spreading the word!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Print Studio Comics Collective :

www.londonprintstudio.org.uk/resources/londonprintstudio-comics-collective/site/