INDEPENDENTLY ANIMATED:
A MASTER CLASS WITH BILL PLYMPTON IN THE ART AND BUSINESS OF ANIMATION

Instructor: BILL PLYMPTON 
One session
TUESDAY December 13, 2011
7-9 pm

Here's how BILL PLYMPTON describes his MoCCA Master Class:

 "I want to talk about my career as an independent animator who makes a good living creating independent films by way of showing some of my classic shorts, music videos, and clips from my new feature, 'Idiots and Angels.' Plus, I will give a drawing demonstration and talk about how other filmmakers can make a living creating short films.And everyone who comes gets a free Bill Plympton drawing."

BILL PLYMPTON is considered the King of Indie Animation and is the only person to hand draw an entire animated feature film – 6 times over. 

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he began his career creating cartoons for publications such asThe New York Times, National Lampoon, Playboyand Screw.

In 1987 he was nominated for an Oscar® for his animated short "Your Face." In 2005, Bill received another Oscar® nomination, this time for a short film "Guard Dog." "Push Comes to Shove," another short film, won the prestigious Cannes 1991 Palme d'Or.

MASTER CLASS IN GRAPHIC DESIGN:
DESIGN IN THE SERVICE OF NARRATIVE FOR COMIC BOOKS

Instructor: HOWARD CHAYKIN

One session

TUESDAY November 1

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

In common with other forms of communication, comic books have a language, a vocabulary, and a syntax—despite the frequent misuse or nearly congenital ignorance of these tools by many professionals—both writers and artists.

As a working cartoonist and writer for forty years,HOWARD CHAYKIN has spent much of that time analyzing and successfully codifying the techniques that make for a coherent narrative linkage between written text and visual presentation. He’s spent the past five years teaching these techniques to professional artists at Marvel Comics, as well as lecturing on the subject to working professionals and comics enthusiasts in the United States and Europe.

An evening spent with this renowned, witty and deeply opinionated curmudgeon will change the way anyone looks at or thinks about a comics page, be they professional, amateur seeking to be professional, or simply interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of a frequently misunderstood narrative craft.

Promise.

HOWARD VICTOR CHAYKIN has been a comic book professional for forty years. Forty years.  Think about it. He took a hiatus from the comics industry for about fifteen years, to work his way up the ladder of television, on shows which he’d never watch—while keeping his hands in the comics business, because he knows nothing lasts forever. He has a terrible reputation among fans for profanity, limited patience with nonsense, and spite, an attitude he’s finally and gratefully aged into.  

HOW TO WRITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS: LEVEL 2

Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH
6 sessions, 
WEDNESDAYS November 2, 9, 16, 30; December 7 & 14, 2011
6:30-9:00 pm

DANNY FINGEROTH will lead a hands-on, Level 2 workshop in writing comics and graphic novels for experienced (but not necessarily published) writers. Combining lectures, assignments in class and at home, and roundtable critiquing, the class will cover writing for all kinds of comics, including autobiographical, historical, “indy” and superheroes.

Students will be expected to have mastered the basic elements of comics scripting. The class can be used to start new works or polish existing ones. Students are encouraged to do one or more shortform projects (no longer than ten pages) for this class. For students working on longer projects, the class will be used to solidify overall storylines and then develop a shorter chapter or episode within the longer work.

 Note: Students are expected to come to the first session either with either (a) three “springboards” (short ideas for stories), from which we will choose one to be your project for the course OR (b) a short work that needs polishing OR  (c) an overview of your idea for a longform project.

DANNY FINGEROTH was the longtime group editor of Marvel's Spider-Man line and the writer of comics including Darkhawk and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man.He has taught comics writing at NYU, The New School, and Media Bistro. Danny created and editedWrite Now magazine, the only how-to publication dedicated to comics writing and writers. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels and co-author (with artist Mike Manley) of How to Create Comics from Script to Print. He's also written the books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. His latest book, The Stan Lee Universe (from TwoMorrows), co-edited with Roy Thomas, is about the life and career of the writer who changed comics forever. Danny serves on MoCCA's board of advisors and on the board of directors of the Institute for Comics Studies.

ADVANCED VISUAL STORYTELLING: EXPANDING YOUR COMICS VISION

Instructor: PETER KUPER
3 sessions:
Wednesdays, June 15, 22 and 29. 

6:30-9:00 pm

$185 tuition / $165 for MoCCA members

Join visionary comics artist PETER KUPER and explore the medium of sequential art and learn how to find outlets for publishing your own self-generated comics and illustration projects. There will be weekly assignments with in-class crit sessions along with visual presentations and demonstrations by the instructor that will expand your familiarity with the history and vast potential of sequential art. Students should have some experience creating comics and should bring one example of their comics work to the first class. [No art supplies will be necessary in class.]

PETER KUPER is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated and has remained on its editorial board for over 30 years. His illustrations and comics have appeared in Time, The New York Times and MAD, where he has written and illustrated SPY vs. SPY every month since 1997. He has produced over twenty books and graphic novels including The System, Sticks and Stones, Speechless and Stop Forgetting To Remember. Peter has also adapted Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and many of Franz Kafka's works into comics. His adaptation of The Metamorphosis has been translated around the world and is in high school and college curriculums nation-wide. He won the 2010 Society of Illustrators gold medal for sequential art and appears in 2010’s Best American Comics anthology. Peter lived in Oaxaca, Mexico from 2006-2008 during a major teachers’ strike and his work about that time can be seen in his latest book, Diario de
Oaxaca. More of his work can be found at www.peterkuper.com

HOW TO DO STORYBOARDS FOR ANIMATION
Instructor: STEPHEN DeSTEFANO
4 sessions, MONDAYS
June 6, 13, 20 and 27
6:30-9:00 pm
$255 tuition / $235 for MoCCA members

No other pre-production stage of creating animation is lavished with as much time, care and expense as the storyboarding job. Often considered the best and most sought after job in the animation industry, storyboarding is the art of creating a blueprint for an entire animated film or episode.

Simply put, a storyboard is a very fancy and very long comic strip. But it's much more complex than that. Storyboard artists can make or break an animated production. Besides drawing ability, the storyboard artist must have knowledge of acting, writing, and cinematic theory to convey to laypeople and experts alike how exciting and entertaining an animated production has the potential to be. It’s a hard job, being both highly technical and demandingly creative.

But it's possibly the most fun you can have in the world of cartoons. Instructor STEPHEN DeSTEFANO—veteran storyboard artist—will show you how it’s done.

The class will acquaint the student with basic theories of, not one, but two different styles of storyboarding: The "Full Script" style (where a 'board artist is supplied with a fully-fleshed out script, featuring action and all dialogue created by writers); and The "Outline" style (the “Wild West of storyboarding,”) where a ‘board artist is given several paragraphs of outlined story with minimal dialogue, requiring the artist to not only draw and devise action on the fly, but write final dialogue as well.  Students will have the option of ‘boarding a script or outline of their own creation if they prefer.

[While the class will focus on storyboarding for TV animation,  ‘boarding for other formats and venues will be touched upon, as well.]

The class format will consist of lectures and demonstrations by the instructors, as well as at-home and in-class assignments they will critique, including a final assignment which they will critique after the class via e-mail.

NOTES:

(1) Tools required for class. 2 pencils, an eraser, a sense of humor.

(2) Students will be supplied with an animation script to storyboard from; model sheets of characters, props and backgrounds to incorporate into their storyboards; and several sheets of thumbnail and storyboard templates.

 STEPHEN DeSTEFANO began his cartooning career in 1985 drawing the fondly remembered ‘Mazing Man for DC Comics. In 1992, he began working in television animation, drawing backgrounds for Nickelodeon's original Ren and Stimpy Show, eventually being promoted to storyboard artist. Studios and productions he has storyboarded for include Warner Bros (on Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, and The Brave and the Bold); Universal Studios (on Earthworm Jim, Baby Huey, Beethoven, and The Woody Woodpecker Show); and Cartoon Network on several productions, including his own animated pilot film, The Thundermans. Stephen has served as an art director for Katbot, a Disney Television production, and as storyboard and design supervisor on Adult Swim's The Venture Brothers. (eventually being dubbed "the guru" by show creator Jackson Publick). He continues to work in animation, as well as comic books. His graphic novel, Lucky in Love (co-created with writer George Chieffet), was recently published by Fantagraphics Books.

HOW TO WRITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH
4 sessions, MONDAYS May 2, 9, 16, 23
6:30-9:00 pm
$245 tuition | $225 for MoCCA members

DANNY FINGEROTH will lead a hands-on workshop in writing comics and graphic novels, suitable for novices as well as experienced writers. Combining lectures, assignments in class and at home, and roundtable critiquing, the class will cover writing for all kinds of comics, including autobiographical, historical, “indy” and superheroes.

Note: Please come to the first session with three “springboards” (short ideas for stories). We will choose one to be your project for the course.

DANNY FINGEROTH was the longtime group editor of Marvel's Spider-Man line and the writer of comics including Darkhawk and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man. He has taught comics writing at NYU, The New School, and Media Bistro. Danny created and edited Write Now magazine, the only how-to publication dedicated to comics writing and writers. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels and co-author (with artist Mike Manley) of How to Create Comics from Script to Print. He's also written the books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. His book, The Stan Lee Universe, co-edited with Roy Thomas, will be on sale in the summer of 2011. Danny serves on MoCCA's board of advisors and on the board of directors of the Institute for Comics Studies.

OH, THE HUMANITY: WRITING SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS GENRES AND MEDIA
Instructor: J.M. DeMATTEIS
Tuesday May 17
7:00-9:00 PM
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, J. M. DeMATTEIS was a professional musician and rock music journalist before entering the comic book field. Although he's written almost all of the major DC and Marvel icons—including memorable runs on Spider-Man and Justice League—DeMatteis's greatest acclaim has come for his more personal work. The autobiographical Brooklyn Dreams was picked by the American Library Association as one of the Ten Best Graphic Novels, and Booklist, in a starred review, called it “as graphically distinguished and creatively novelistic a graphic novel as has ever been...a classic of the form.” It was also selected as one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels in Danny Fingeroth's Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. The groundbreaking Moonshadow was chosen (along with Brooklyn Dreams, the children's fantasy, Abadazad, and other DeMatteis works) for inclusion in Gene Kannenberg, Jr's 2008 book 500 Essential Graphic Novels, where it was hailed as one of the finest examples of the fantasy genre in comics. DeMatteis's latest projects include the fantasy novel Imaginalis, published in July 2010 by HarperCollins, and a variety of television and comic book projects. DeMatteis and his family live in upstate New York.

PRINCIPLES OF GRAPHIC STORYTELLING FOR COMICS
Instructor: LARRY HAMA
Wednesday May 11
7-9pm
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members

 Explores the process of getting the narrative onto the page clearly in a self-evident sequence of pictures. Main visual points of reference will be “Wally Wood’s 22 Panels” and GI Joe: A Real American Hero #21, “Silent Interlude.” There will be a frame-by-frame deconstruction and analysis of “Silent Interlude,” an exploration of techniques, and a Q & A.

"Graphic Narrative/Comic Book Storytelling is much more than a series of pictures. With a career as writer, artist, and editor in every storytelling medium, there is none better qualified to provide both the novice and the professional with the successful basics and applications of both the art and the craft than Larry Hama.”—Michael Golden.

LARRY HAMA is a writer/cartoonist/illustrator/actor/musician who has worked in comics, TV, and film. He is best known as the writer of Marvel’s GI Joe comics in the ‘80s, and as the writer of Marvel’s Wolverine in the ‘90s. He is currently writing Barack the Barbarian for Devil’s Due Comics and GI Joe: Origins for IDW as well as various animation and video game projects.

He has written, edited or drawn for such comics titles as Avengers, Blaze, Nth Man, The Nam, Conan, Batman, Wonder Woman, Bizarre Adventures, X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and dozens more. His illustrations and cartoons have appeared in National Lampoon, Esquire, New York, Rolling Stone and various Children’s Television Workshop publications.
 He has worked in TV development on mini-series for David L. Wolper (Project X), and in animation and Internet gaming for Curious Pictures (Out of Your Mind, Jacabee Code). He has written episodes of Robot Boy (TV animation) for Alphanim, interstitials for PBS Kids, and direct-to-DVD material for Flickerlab (Aaron & Emily). He created the Marvel Comic Mort the Dead Teenager that was optioned and developed by DreamWorks. (He co-wrote the screenplay with director John Payson.)  He co-wrote “All Ages Night” a feature film about teens in a rock band, which will be seen on STARZ.

ANIMATION WRITING: HOW TO WRITE SCRIPTS THAT WILL MAKE YOU A KEY MEMBER OF THE CREATIVE TEAM
Instructor: DAVID STEVEN COHEN
Monday March 28
7:00-9:00 PM
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members 

Learn the skills and secrets to writing great animation.  Inspire the rest of the creative team to be brilliant – and grateful to see your name on script after script!

Animation is collaboration by conveyor belt, and it starts with your script. 

Award-winning writer/executive producer DAVID STEVEN COHEN (Courage the Cowardly Dog, Arthur, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Steven Spielberg’s Balto) will show you techniques for crafting indelible characters, solid stories and great scripts that are more than blueprints – scripts that inspire the director, storyboard artist, editor and musical director. Cohen will demonstrate how you can maximize a show's basic concept (while avoiding common mistakes) and create a script that moves visually, rhythmically, emotionally, and comedically - one that communicates vividly without collapsing under the weight of words. Underscoring it all is flexible thinking and the collaborative process: the agony and ecstasy of sharing creative vision. Focus will be on writing character-driven animated comedy for television, with some forays into features.


DAVID STEVEN COHEN was the head writer on all four seasons of Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog and has written for many other series, including Arthur, Viva Piñata and ALF Tales, of which he was co-creator and executive producer. As executive producer of Nickelodeon's The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, David was nominated for two Emmys and won a Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Children's Script. He co-wrote the animated feature Balto and has also written many songs for animation, collaborating recently with Jody Gray on the song-score for Clifford's Really Big Movie. David's live-action work includes Phil of the Future, Living Single, Strangers with Candy, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, ALF and Pee-wee's Playhouse. First introduced to opera by a certain Oscar-winning rabbit, David wrote the libretto for the opera Lilith, which premiered at Lincoln Center in 2001.

Legion of Super-Heroes and and related characters are TM and (c) DC Comics, 2010

THE CRAFT OF COMICS WRITING:
THE LONG AND SHORT OF PLOTTING
Instructor: PAUL LEVITZ
One session, MONDAY December 6
6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members
 
From one of comics’ undisputed master plotters, PAUL LEVITZ, a discussion of how to construct plots to suit story structures long and short, building ideas from character, and tools for analyzing the form to develop your goals. Everything you ever wanted to know about plotting comics but were afraid to ask!

PAUL LEVITZ was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1956, and entered the comics industry in 1971 as editor/publisher of The Comic Reader, the first mass-circulation fanzine devoted to comics news.  He continued to publish TCR for three years, winning two consecutive annual Comic Art Fan Awards for Best Fanzine. His other fan activities included editing the program books for several of Phil Seuling’s legendary New York Comic Art Conventions. He received Comic-con International’s Inkpot Award in 2002 and the prestigious Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award in 2008. Levitz also serves on the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Levitz is primarily known for his work for DC Comics, where he has written most of their classic characters including the Justice Society and Superman in both comics and the newspaper strip, and an acclaimed run on The Legion of Super-Heroes, a series he’s recently returned to write.  Readers of The Buyers’ Guide voted his Legion: The Great Darkness Saga one of the 20 best comic stories of the last century, and visitors to the site comicbookresources.com selected the same story as #11 of the Top 100 Comic Book Stories of All Time.

Cumulatively, Levitz has written over 300 stories with sales of over 25 million copies, and translations into over 20 languages. As a DC staffer from 1973, Levitz was an assistant editor, the company’s youngest editor ever, and in a series of business capacities, became Executive Vice President & Publisher in 1989 and then served as President & Publisher from 2002-2009. He continues as a Contributing Editor, but is now concentrating on his writing

The Venture Bros
TM & ® 2009 Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. A Time Warner Company.

HOW TO DO STORYBOARDS FOR ANIMATION
Instructor: STEPHEN DESTEFANO
3 sessions, MONDAYS
November 22, 29; December 13
[no class December 6]
6:30-9:00 pm
$190 tuition / $170 for MoCCA members

No other pre-production stage of creating animation is lavished with as much time, care and expense as the storyboarding job. Often considered the best and most sought after job in the animation industry, storyboarding is the art of creating a blueprint for an entire animated film or episode.

Simply put, a storyboard is a very fancy and very long comic strip. But it's much more complex than that. Storyboard artists can make or break an animated production. Besides drawing ability, the storyboard artist must have knowledge of acting, writing, and cinematic theory to convey to laypeople and experts alike how exciting and entertaining an animated production has the potential to be. It’s a hard job, being both highly technical and demandingly creative.

But it's possibly the most fun you can have in the world of cartoons. Instructor STEPHEN DESTEFANO—veteran storyboard artist—will show you how it’s done.

The class will acquaint the student with basic theories of, not one, but two different styles of storyboarding: The "Full Script" style (where a 'board artist is supplied with a fully-fleshed out script, featuring action and all dialogue created by writers); and The "Outline" style (the “Wild West of storyboarding,”) where a ‘board artist is given several paragraphs of outlined story with minimal dialogue, requiring the artist to not only draw and devise action on the fly, but write final dialogue as well.  Students will have the option of ‘boarding a script or outline of their own creation if they prefer.

[While the class will focus on storyboarding for TV animation,  ‘boarding for other formats and venues will be touched upon, as well.]

The class format will consist of lectures and demonstrations by the instructors, as well as at-home and in-class assignments they will critique, including a final assignment which they will critique after the class via e-mail.

NOTES:
(1) Tools required for class. 2 pencils, an eraser, a sense of humor.
(2) Students will be supplied with an animation script to storyboard from; model sheets of characters, props and backgrounds to incorporate into their storyboards; and several sheets of thumbnail and storyboard templates.

STEPHEN DESTEFANO began his cartooning career in 1985 drawing the fondly remembered ‘Mazing Man for DC Comics. In 1992, he began working in television animation, drawing backgrounds for Nickelodeon's original Ren and Stimpy Show, eventually being promoted to storyboard artist. Studios and productions he has storyboarded for include Warner Bros (on Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, and The Brave and the Bold); Universal Studios (on Earthworm Jim, Baby Huey, Beethoven, and The Woody Woodpecker Show); and Cartoon Network on several productions, including his own animated pilot film, The Thundermans. Stephen has served as an art director for Katbot, a Disney Television production, and as storyboard and design supervisor on Adult Swim's The Venture BrothersLucky in Love, (co-created with writer George Chieffet), was recently published by Fantagraphics Books. (eventually being dubbed "the guru" by show creator Jackson Publick). He continues to work in animation, as well as comic books. His graphic novel,

Spider-Man, Nova, Darkhawk, Speedball and related characters are TM and (C) Marvel Entertainment, 2010. 

"A Show of Hands" by R. Sikoryak
copyright 2005 R. Sikoryak

HAND ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS
INSTRUCTORS: R. SIKORYAK and KRIOTA WILLBERG
1 session:  MONDAY, November 15
6:30-9:00 PM
$70 tuition | $60 for MoCCA members
[Plus: 25% DISCOUNT for students who have taken the ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP either this semester or in spring 2010: $52.50|$45]

An introduction to one of the trickiest parts of the body to draw, from the teachers of MoCCA’s popular ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP.
Hands are incredibly complex, articulated structures, containing more than twenty-seven bones and innumerable joints. No wonder they’re so hard to draw!

Learn about hands in a way that will let you adapt that knowledge to drawing hands on your characters in your own cartooning style.

This class introduces a series of anatomical principles and aesthetic concepts to help you design “hands” that fit naturally onto the body of a cartoon character and also convey believable hand functionality. We’ll also draw in class from model skeletons and live hand models.

We will look at the skeletal structures of the hand, wrist, and forearm; the movements available at their joints; major muscle groups of the hand and forearm; typical hand gestures and movements; and survey the use of hands by cartoonists in a variety of styles, from Burne Hogarth (Tarzan) to Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), and everyone in between.

Be sure to bring a sketchbook and pencils. You can also bring in samples of your own character drawings so that we can discuss your approach to hands.

R. SIKORYAK is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics. His cartoons and parodies have appeared in RAW, Drawn and Quarterly, Nickelodeon Magazine, the New Yorker, and MAD, among many other publications; on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and in The Daily Show Presents America (The Book); and in Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth. He's drawn for Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. Sikoryak is in the speakers program of the New York Council of the Humanities and teaches in the illustration department at Parsons School of Design. Since 1997, he has presented his cartoon slide show series, Carousel, around the United States and Canada.

KRIOTA WILLBERG teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies, anatomy in the dance department of Marymount Manhattan College, pathology and massage therapy at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, and has taught at Bard College, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. She has studied personal training and exercise. Willberg is an interdisciplinary artist, a lecturer and blogger about film and medicine (thecinematologist.blogspot.com), and a filmmaker. Her films include the dance mockumentary, The Bentfootes (2007).

Kriota Willberg teaching anatomy to cartoonists

ANATOMY FOR CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP
Instructors: R. SIKORYAK
and KRIOTA WILLBERG
4 sessions, Mondays
October 18 & 25, Nov. 1 & 8
6:30-9:00 pm
$275 tuition | $250 for MoCCA members

How many times have you said to yourself, “I’d love to make my drawing more realistic—but anatomy is hard!”?

Well, this is your chance to take the most exciting, informative drawing course you’ll ever find, taught by the accomplished teaching team of R. SIKORYAK (RAW magazine, The Daily Show) and KRIOTA WILLBERG (The Swedish Institute). Here’s what the duo says about their workshop:

“A lot can be communicated about a person or animal through their physical appearance. Understanding the way the body looks and works helps illustrators draw their characters so that the artwork conveys personality. This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters—in any style—that are consistent and believable.”

Through PowerPoint presentations, in-class exercises, and at-home assignments, students will learn to see and draw the structures and tissues that give the body shape and character.Willberg will—literally!—draw on live models to trace muscle groups and bony landmarks. Sikoryak will demonstrate the application of anatomical understanding to any cartooning style. Students will practice drawing from live models in class and learn to apply the lessons to their own characters.

NOTES:
(1) Students will need to bring drawing materials—charcoal, pencils (colored or not), erasers, paper [11x14 (recommended) or 18 x 24, but not bigger]. No markers, please. Students should work with inexpensive materials they are most comfortable with. The class isn't about creating finished drawings as much as it is about sketching.

(2) As this is a life-drawing class, nude models will be employed.

R. SIKORYAK is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics. His cartoons and parodies have appeared in RAW, Drawn and Quarterly, Nickelodeon Magazine, the New Yorker, and MAD, among many other publications; on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and in The Daily Show Presents America (The Book); and in Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth. He's drawn for Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. Sikoryak is in the speakers program of the New York Council of the Humanities and teaches in the illustration department at Parsons School of Design. Since 1997, he has presented his cartoon slide show series, Carousel, around the United States and Canada.

KRIOTA WILLBERG teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies, anatomy in the dance department of Marymount Manhattan College, pathology and massage therapy at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, and has taught at Bard College, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. She has studied personal training and exercise. Willberg is an interdisciplinary artist, a lecturer and blogger about film and medicine (thecinematologist.blogspot.com), and a filmmaker. Her films include the dance mockumentary, The Bentfootes (2007).

© 2010 MTV Networks, © and ™ MTV Networks. All Rights Reserved

HOW TO WRITE ANIMATION
Instructor: ANNE D. BERNSTEIN
6 sessions
TUESDAYS June 22 & 29; July 13, 20, 27; August 3
6:30-9:00 pm
$385 tuition | $360 for MoCCA members

When it comes to cartoons, anything can happen! Yet, although animation is unbound by reality or gravity, successful cartoon writing is grounded in classic storytelling skills, thoughtful character development, and clever dialogue. This class is an opportunity to explore the particular challenges and rewards of writing for animation. Screenings, lectures, in-class exercises, and enjoyable home assignments demystify the process. If you have already created animated characters or are in the process of developing your own show (anything from a single webtoon to a full-fledged series) you will be encouraged to incorporate your existing project into the course work—and receive valuable feedback from the instructor as well as your fellow students! Newbies are welcome, too. Just bring your imagination. [Note: while this course will focus on TV animation, shortform and feature length animation will be discussed, as well.]
 
ANNE D. BERNSTEIN is an animation writer and story editor whose credits include Daria, MTV Downtown, Private Eye Princess, Hey Monie!, Backyardigans, Tutenstein, Viva Pinata, Angelo Rules and Monster High. She served as Head Writer for MTV Animation Development for three years. Before that she was Senior Editor and Comic Book Editor at Nickelodeon Magazine.

MASTER CLASS IN COMICS ART AND STORYTELLING

with KIM DEITCH

Monday, June 28, 6:30-8:30 pm

Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members

Underground comix legend KIM DEITCH will hold a master class session in comics art and storytelling.

Kim will impart some key secrets. Secrets easily mastered that transformed him from being lazy, hedonistic and unfocused into a more positive, goal oriented human being.  He will also show you a certain attitude about the idea of making art; how an artistic life can be more than a way to make a living; that it can also be a way to make a genuinely valid contribution to the world we live in.

Q & A with the audience to follow.

KIM DEITCH has a reserved place at the first table of underground cartoonists. The son of UPA and Terrytoons animator Gene Deitch, Kim was born in 1944 and grew up around the animation business. He began doing comic strips for the East Village Other in 1967, introducing two of his more famous characters, Waldo the Cat and Uncle Ed, the India Rubber Man. In 1969 he succeeded Vaughn Bodé as editor of Gothic Blimp Works, the Other’s underground comics tabloid. During this period he married fellow cartoonist Trina Robbins and had a daughter, Casey. The Mishkin Saga was named one of the Top 30 best English-language comics of the 20th Century by The Comics Journal, and the first issue of The Stuff of Dreams received the Eisner Award for Best Single Issue in 2003. Deitch remains a true cartoonists’ cartoonist, adored by his peers as much as anyone in the history of the medium. His latest book is The Search for Smilin’ Ed, published by Fantagraphics.

More MoCCA Master Class sessions for summer and fall to be announced soon!

Kriota Willberg teaching anatomy to cartoonists

from R. Sikoryak's Masterpiece Comics

ANATOMY FOR
CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP

Instructors: R. SIKORYAK and KRIOTA WILLBERG

4 sessions, Mondays April 19 & 26, May 3 & 10.

6:30-9:00 pm

$275 tuition | $250 for MoCCA members 

How many times have you said to yourself, “I’d love to make my drawing more realistic—but anatomy is hard!”?  

Well, this is your chance to take the most exciting, informative drawing course you’ll ever find, taught by the accomplished teaching team of R. SIKORYAK (RAW magazine, The Daily Show) and KRIOTA WILLBERG (The Swedish Institute). Here’s what the duo says about their workshop: 

“A lot can be communicated about a person or animal through their physical appearance. Understanding the way the body looks and works helps illustrators draw their characters so that the artwork conveys personality. This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters—in any style—that are consistent and believable.” 

Through PowerPoint presentations, in-class exercises, and at-home assignments, students will learn to see and draw the structures and tissues that give the body shape and character. Willberg will—literally!—draw on live models to trace muscle groups and bony landmarks. Sikoryak will demonstrate the application of anatomical understanding to any cartooning style. Students will practice drawing from live models in class and learn to apply the lessons to their own characters. 

NOTES:

(1) Students will need to bring drawing materials—charcoal, pencils (colored or not), erasers, paper [11x14 (recommended) or 18 x 24, but not bigger]. No markers, please. Students should work with inexpensive materials they are most comfortable with. The class isn't about creating finished drawings as much as it is about sketching. 

(2) As this is a life-drawing class, nude models will be employed.  

R. SIKORYAK is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics. His cartoons and parodies have appeared in RAW, Drawn and Quarterly, Nickelodeon Magazine, the New Yorker, and MAD, among many other publications; on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and in The Daily Show Presents America (The Book); and in the upcoming Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth. He's drawn for Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. Sikoryak is in the speakers program of the New York Council of the Humanities and teaches in the illustration department at Parsons School of Design. Since 1997, he has presented his cartoon slide show series, Carousel, around the United States and Canada.  

KRIOTA WILLBERG teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies, anatomy in the dance department of Marymount Manhattan College, pathology and massage therapy at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, and has taught at Bard College, NYU, and The School of Visual Arts. She has studied personal training and exercise. Willberg is an interdisciplinary artist, a lecturer and blogger about film and medicine (thecinematologist.blogspot.com), and a filmmaker. Her films include the dance mockumentary, The Bentfootes (2007). 

HOW TO WRITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH

4 sessions, Tuesdays April 20 & 27, May 4 & 11

6:30-9:00 pm

$245 tuition | $225 for MoCCA members 

DANNY FINGEROTH will lead a hands-on workshop in writing comics and graphic novels. This is a four-week class whose aim is to teach students, in a supportive atmosphere, how to structure and write comics and graphic novel stories of professional caliber. Combining lectures, assignments in class and at home, and roundtable critiquing, the class will cover writing for all kinds of comics, including autobiographical, historical, “indy” and superheroes. This class will contain no nudity, but will encourage naked truths and uncovered emotions in students’ work. 

DANNY FINGEROTH was the longtime group editor of Marvel's Spider-Man line and the writer of comics including Darkhawk and Deadly Foes of Spider-Man. He has taught comics writing at NYU, The New School, and Media Bistro. Danny created and edited Write Now magazine, the only how-to publication dedicated to comics writing and writers. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels and co-author (with artist Mike Manley) of How to Create Comics from Script to Print. He’s also written the books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. Danny serves on MoCCA's board of advisors and on the board of directors of the Institute for Comics Studies.