Okay. So many of you know about the Western Comics class being offered this fall, but I wanted to make sure that everyone is on the right page. If you are interested in taking Western Comics, I’ll need to know BEFORE advising (Friday the 20th at 11), as it requires a portfolio review to get in to determine your capacity to handle the course’s rigorous demands. And it will be rigorous.
You’ll have to watch nearly ten movies outside of class (though you can certainly watch them in groups, and I’ll try to provide the films for you). You’ll have to go to a horse ranch, two museums, and a festival. You’ll have to do LOTS of drawings, designs, and research. You’ll be learning the ins and outs of horses, guns, stagecoaches, costumes, architecture, trains, and landscapes. You’ll be reading some Western comics, and you’ll be doing a presentation on a sub-genre of your choosing. And, as a result of all this, you’ll be prepared to handle any Western story that you might want to undertake.
You’ll also be expected to complete an 8-12 page story for your final. If you do a good job, there is a VERY good chance that this story will be published in a high-profile (and paying) venue. That venue is secret until an announcement later this summer, but it will be a great career-building opportunity for those involved. There are also a number of established writers who will be preparing scripts exclusively for the students in the class to adapt.
As I said, it’s going to be a work-heavy class. But it will also be a very fun class, and hopefully its intensity will make it a memorable and beneficial one. Should you ever wish to work in either doing genre comics (crime, romance, horror, war, etc) or comics set during historical periods of the past, this class will serve as an invaluable lesson in how to tackle such projects.
The prereq for this class is Vis 1. It is possible that with an outstanding portfolio a student who has not taken Vis 1 but who HAS taken both Environments, Props, and Structures AND Character Design might be eligible, though those are necessities.
