Beth Kathleen Hetland

This team-taught class is an intensive, three-week immersion in comics. The faculty consists of two SAIC faculty members and one visiting-artist-in-residence, working in a studio alongside students. Students work with faculty one-on-one, participate in group critiques, and attend lectures prepared by the faculty members.

Will Eisner was a trailblazer in many ways, one of which was to put the term 'graphic novel' on his 1978 book, A Contract with God. He was a tireless advocate for comics and wanted them to be included in scholarly discussions, reach a wide audience, but most importantly be appreciated as a medium, not a genre. A storytelling medium that could be used to tell an infinite number of stories in vastly different ways. By labeling his book as a graphic novel, he was able to do all of that and more. Comics aren't visual arts and they're not prose. They're a medium that exists in the tension between images and text. Readings will supplement this course and provide context and expectations for producing high caliber work paralleled with managing a studio practice and your health. Selections will vary but typically include This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore, and The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Course work will be largely focused on developing, writing, workshopping, and beginning the visual planning stages for a long form narrative in graphic novel format. Work will be primarily created with the intention to communicate a plan (thumbnails and sketching) not finished artworks. Depending on each individual's needs, there will be varying supplemental material that is created, including but not limited to sketches, visual studies, and research. You don't need to be a master draftsperson to take this course, but you should be ready to visualize what you write.

Will Eisner was a trailblazer in many ways, one of which was to put the term 'graphic novel' on his 1978 book, A Contract with God. He was a tireless advocate for comics and wanted them to be included in scholarly discussions, reach a wide audience, but most importantly be appreciated as a medium, not a genre. A storytelling medium that could be used to tell an infinite number of stories in vastly different ways. By labeling his book as a graphic novel, he was able to do all of that and more. Comics aren't visual arts and they're not prose. They're a medium that exists in the tension between images and text. Readings will supplement this course and provide context and expectations for producing high caliber work paralleled with managing a studio practice and your health. Selections will vary but typically include This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore, and The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Course work will be largely focused on developing, writing, workshopping, and beginning the visual planning stages for a long form narrative in graphic novel format. Work will be primarily created with the intention to communicate a plan (thumbnails and sketching) not finished artworks. Depending on each individual's needs, there will be varying supplemental material that is created, including but not limited to sketches, visual studies, and research. You don't need to be a master draftsperson to take this course, but you should be ready to visualize what you write.

These graduate seminars focus on comics and visual narratives. Students will discuss and examine historical and contemporary concerns relevant to the topic listed and their own practice. Critique, feedback, and discussion are key aspects where students will share their work with each other and the faculty, in addition to sharing their reactions, interpretations, and critical responses to discussion topics. Students will be exposed to a wide breadth of creators through readings. Readings vary but typically include graphic novels, academic texts, floppy comics, interviews, and zines. Course work may include dynamic readings, studio visits, engaging classroom discussions, guest speakers, field trips, critiques, and lectures about the topic listed.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.