Overview

Through our comics, graphic novels, and sequential art degree, we aim to produce a new breed of storytellers, each with their own individual, formidable voice. The course covers and caters to all styles of cartooning, from manga to journalism, adventure to Amerimanga, superhero to memoir.

'Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent.' Dr. Seuss

Creating comics is more than a job - it's a vocation. We live in a golden age for the comic book, in which Far Eastern manga is now part of the popular culture of the West. We have seen a graphic novel awarded the Pulitzer Prize, 50c funny books of the 1960s turned into iconic, billion-dollar franchises and the internet changes the way we make and read comics forever. The combination of words and pictures can produce something more powerful, more exciting, and more personal than either alone.

The mastery of communication through words and pictures is at the heart of this course. We aim to produce a new breed of storytellers, each with their own individual, formidable voice. You emerge as experts at communicating through cartooning, understanding how the medium works from the technical aspects of perspective, composition, and figure drawing to the founding theories of modern literature.

Comics are also entering into more mainstream areas of advertising, marketing, and public relations - anywhere where a message needs to be communicated in as unforgettable and universal a manner as possible. An optional work placement year is included, at no extra cost.

Course structure

Year 0 (foundation year) core modules

You are introduced to the creative possibilities of image-making using digital tools. The fundamental principles of design and composition will be addressed and a range of image creation techniques will be explored using appropriate graphics software. Skills and topics introduced include: layers, transparencies, vectors, bitmaps, Outcomes & reproduction (web/print/screen), and Input devices

Drawing Principles

You gain confidence in creating rudimentary images using traditional tools such as pencil and charcoal. The teaching enables you to develop your drawing technique and approach and helps you produce images that effectively communicate simple ideas.

With a range of traditional materials, you are encouraged to experiment with different approaches to drawing. You learn methods and techniques to improve your observational skills in relation to still-life drawing. You also look at other formal elements including tone, proportion, perspective, and basic human anatomy.

Final Project

This module aims to guide you through the production of a small-scale individual project defined in part by you, with guidance from the tutor. The final project aims to develop an individual working approach and good project management. You will develop original ideas and concepts for an appropriate project in your chosen field of study. These may take the form of a short story, artifact, report, campaign, comic, concept art, or other appropriate form related to the arts and media industries.

Modelling Principles

You learn some of the basic principles of 3D computer modeling, lighting, and texturing. You use 3D software to produce a simple 3D model that will be textured and rendered with basic lighting. Through guided tutorial tasks, you learn some of the first principles of 3D modeling with the view to creating a small collection of elementary assets for computer games and animation. You create simple textures in appropriate software, such as Photoshop, and consider basic CG lighting.

Study Skills

You explore learning skills for undergraduate study at University, providing you with a range of learning material and practical sessions. You develop your professional skills including teamwork, researching a topic, report writing, and delivering presentations, as well as time management and learning practice.
You learn by a combination of lectures, e-learning material, and support.

You are introduced to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at Teesside University, exploring e-learning material and reading lists, and student support and learning resources.

Your assessment is a portfolio based on set tasks, including research into set problems.

Visual Narratives

You gain confidence in comic and narrative creation through short, well-defined creation briefs to encourage experimentation and an openness to new techniques, tools, and methods.

Through practice-based briefs and seminars, you are introduced to the key tools and techniques of both comic and artistic media.

You experiment with different styles of drawing for pre-defined narrative purposes; to different ways of generating or structuring a story. You also produce images that communicate a narrative, short comics, and other visual narratives.

You work with the tutor and other students to discuss work in response to the briefs You explore the fundamental formal elements of narrative creation, such as the use of the panel, the cover, page design, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and captions, through workshops, briefs, and challenges.

Your assessment is 100% ICA, a visual portfolio that covers a range of narrative-based or comic-specific storytelling techniques.

Year 1 core modules

You explore the richness and diversity of the comic medium, and thorough discussion of its most significant works and creators, recognize how your own creative practice can be developed further.

You think critically, expand your understanding of what comics are and can do, and recognize new examples of the form to inspire, influence, and educate your own practice.
Your assessment is 100% ICA

Drawing For Games And Animations

This module develops your visual perception and drawing skills – these are essential for a productive artist to communicate ideas effectively, swiftly, and efficiently.

You are guided through a range of drawing exercises including figure drawing, environment drawing, and still life, enabling you to work through a variety of approaches to drawing. These exercises develop your observational and imaginative drawing abilities, and build on your artistic skills and range of techniques, using traditional tools

Idea Generation

You explore a range of methods and techniques to generate and develop creative ideas.

You carry out a range of challenging tasks to encourage and develop an effective working practice. The unique challenges faced by comic book creators will be identified and explored in terms of the visual image and the written word.

You generate original ideas and develop skills in the areas of narrative development, thumbnailing, iteration, and rewriting.

The skills you acquire in this module will be developed and expanded in the subsequent modules and will underpin future learning.

Your assessment is a portfolio of work created in response to a provided brief.

Narrative And Storytelling

Narrative and Storytelling provide you with the opportunity to learn a range of approaches to the creative development and writing of a script.
You explore the structural dimensions of your work including aspects such as three-act plotting, character arcs, and story sequencing and utilizes professional techniques derived from established practice in the creative media industries.
Your assessment is 100% ICA.

Sequencing Images for Comics

You are introduced to the fundamental design, communication, and narrative skills to create a story in comic form.

You examine the forms and methods established by some of the most significant creators in the medium; through experimenting and workshopping with these methods; and through developing your understanding of their mechanisms.

You explore the unique visual language of comic books; how it has evolved and how it is read. You look at the effects of panel and page design, of techniques including thumbnailing and composition, and how different cultures have produced different ways of telling stories within comics.

Your assessment is 100% ICA.

Visual Perspectives

We live in visual culture. This module explores how we see and take meaning from images across a range of media platforms including television, cinema, the press, and the visual arts