There is currently a broad interest in comics as a form of storytelling, combining image and text, for creative professionals who see comics as a form which contributes to storytelling in a wide-range of media (film, video games, virtual reality. etc.), and for young people who are just beginning to explore creativity through their favorite comic characters and comic worlds. MassArt, an accessible public institution with a rigorous approach to visual storytelling is offering an affordable certificate program which introduces this broad audience to the form and possibilities of comics and other forms of graphic storytelling. While other educational institutions in the Northeast are narrowing their professional programs in comics, MassArt will provide the program that invites a broad audience to engage with a form popular for publishing, online viewership, video game and film production and other professional opportunities.

 

The storytelling that propels graphic novels, traditional comics, zines, and children’s books works because of the unique combination of visual and written narrative. The MassArt Storytelling and Comic Arts Certificate is grounded in the creative power and potential of word and image when they are combined to create a distinct language. There is no conceptual limit to what is possible in the comic arts; the form holds as much possibility as the human imagination, from children’s stories, to visual journalism, to narratives on education and health.

 

Students in the Comic Arts certificate refine both their writing and drawing skills, learning to combine the two in a rigorous and accessible approach to the sequential arts. Our program is structured as a community of artists learning in small classes, in close dialogue and critique with MassArt faculty and a wide range of visiting artists and writers. There is flexibility within the curriculum so that each student can build skills and progress toward an area of expertise and focus that suits their vision.  As students’ toolkits expand, they’ll participate in professional practice training in order to strategize ways to build an artistic community and then distribute, exhibit, and publish their own work.