Welcome to your Cartoon and Comic Arts course

Welcome to University of Staffordshire

We know you're already passionate about your subject, which is why we're excited you've chosen University of Staffordshire as the place to turn possibility into reality.

To give you an insight into what life as a Cartoon and Comic Arts student is like, your course leaders have prepared introductions to the course and further activities.

Congratulations on joining the Cartoon and Comic Arts family!

You are now part of a unique course, and we want to get you settled in as smoothly as possible.

The course team can’t wait to meet you and embark on one of the most memorable experiences of your life. To help you prepare for your exciting new course at Staffordshire University, please carefully read the information below.

Course Delivery

In the first semester all our lectures will be face to face and based in our fantastic studio space or surrounding workshops. Other lectures may be out and about around Stoke on Trent! (So get some comfortable walking shoes!)
The academic year is split into 2 semesters, semester 1 from September to December and semester 2 from January to May
Our virtual learning space (called Blackboard Ultra) will enable you to engage with learning materials both before and after a class has taken place and will serve as an online hub of information. We may also occasionally offer activities via the online learning community and other online systems such as Microsoft Teams. Don’t worry if you haven’t used these systems before- we will offer you training and support in how to use them. These systems are provided to you by the university- you will simply need access to the internet to use them.
Regular academic mentoring and support will be in place, your course leader, module leader and personal tutor will be available for you to contact during your studies at Staffordshire University
There will be full access to support services online or face-to-face where necessary including our disability service, careers service, student guidance advisors, IT support, and counselling service amongst others.

Download Microsoft teams

Semester one activities

The first few weeks of your degree are designed to give you a taste of your next three years – a myriad of fun, exciting and informative sessions are run throughout the first semester, all designed to inflame your passion for storytelling.

We appreciate that you might not have been taught cartooning or comics before, so that is the starting point where we show you the fundamentals of this artform.

You get to do life drawing, perspective, character design, layouts, panels and produce comics, along with seminars, lectures and industry guests…it’s a very busy introduction!

Pre-learning

If you haven’t read these already, here are some books that we recommend you have a look at before you start the course:

Will Eisner’s “Comics and Sequential Art”
Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”
Scott McCloud’s “Making Comics”

These are a few of the main books that we would advise you to read. We will be covering some of the material in class – these books are also available via the Staffordshire University library.

Additionally, one of the beneficial aspects of you joining a course of creative people, is that your fellow students will all be interested in different types of comics too! So, keep reading the books and comics that made you want to be a storyteller in the first place, and then you can pass on your knowledge to your new classmates.

Equipment and software

All Cartoon and Comic Arts students should have their pencil cases filled with a range of different drawing equipment. For example, make sure you have a range of pencils, fineliners of different sizes, a ruler, an eraser and marker pens.

The University also has its own art shop where you can experiment with different drawing pens and papers- we recommend you try out Bristol Board for comics!

We also work with digital technology and our students (and staff) highly recommend you grab yourself a copy of ClipStudio.

It’s important that you have a computer or tablet which can access any online sessions we may need to run, as well as to use digital art software for various future projects. A scanner is also an excellent item to bring with you!

For the first semester’s projects you will need a minimum of 2 A4 sketchbooks (one for each module!)

As a student at Staffs University you also get access to a variety of free software, which includes Microsoft 365 (word, powerpoint, excel, etc).

Download software

Pre Arrival Task

One of the best things about this course is that you’ll be joining like-minded people.

Currently in your world, you may think you are the only one who has read a particularly niche Manga, or you are the only one who is mad about that Graphic Novel…. Well, at Staffs everything changes! This is your new world, where people are as passionate about these things as you are!

With that in mind, we all need to get to know one another as fast as possible, so great way of doing that is to draw a picture of yourself that tells us a bit about you!

From looking at the picture we should be able to glean some interesting things for both how you’ve drawn yourself and the Easter Eggs you include: what comics are you into? What are you passionate about? What makes you tick!

So draw an A4 picture of yourself, showing us who you really are!!

We’ll be looking at these during the tail end of Welcome Week, so get drawing!

We also want you to turn up on the day with your favourite comic book or image, so that we can do a workshop to get you up and running, using the universities equipment as soon as possible.

Trips and activities

We like to get out of the classroom as often as possible. Certain modules focus on the students learning whilst on the move – from utilising the nooks and crannies of Stoke, to the hustle and bustle of London!

London plays an important role in your time with us, from visiting it in your first year, to selling work at MCM London Comic Con as part of your second year.

In addition, there will be several opportunities throughout your three years with us to experience the wider world of comics, our previous trips have included: New York, Erlangen and Brussels. We’re always looking at a range of places to take our students, next up could be more of America and even the possibility of Japan!

Groups and societies

Wednesday afternoons are reserved for clubs and societies – we have many students who are actively engaged in their groups, from Manga, D&D and Cosplay, there is pretty much a club for everyone!

You are also welcome to make your own club!

staffsunion.com/activities/society/cas/ - Digital Arts Society
https://www.staffsunion.com/activities/society/28096/ Cosy Club
https://www.staffsunion.com/activities/society/sams/- Anime and Manga
https://www.staffsunion.com/activities/society/ccs/ - Cosplay and Convention
https://www.staffsunion.com/activities/society/24402/ - League of Legends
https://www.staffsunion.com/activities/society/myth/ - TTRPG

For more options, please visit:

staffsunion.com/getinvolved/clubsandsocieties/

Meet the team

Gareth Cowlin

Lecturer

Gareth has regularly produced illustrative work for a range of magazines and newspapers, including: Private Eye, Punch, The Sun, The Bookseller and The New Statesman.

Gareth's profile

Adrian Tooth

Course Director

Creating things and bringing them to life has always been a passion of Adrian's. He's been an animator and freelance illustrator/cartoonist amongst a range of other jobs, which include the manager of a pottery decoration department.

Adrian's profile

Jason Brindley