Comics as a medium have grown in popularity over the last few decades. That growth has spawned an increase in the demand for comics education. Some universities and colleges nationwide have started to offer “Comics” as a major, including Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). CCAD separated the Comics and Narrative Practice from the Illustration major in 2022. I took a brief tour of CCAD’s campus to learn more about the teachers and students of the program.
In 2014, CCAD started producing the Spitball anthology, partnering with professional comic writers, including Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel), Grace Ellis (Lumberjanes), and Eisner award-winner Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals), with student artists.
In the fall of 2017, CCAD accepted its first students into the Comics & Narrative Practice program. These students were encouraged to create original comics, learn how to shape narrative elements, and invent signature styles, stories, and characters. To further the practical knowledge of working in the comic industry, students meet professionals to gain experience with story pitches, prepress, budgeting, and marketing.
Throughout the tour, I learned how CCAD’s operations differentiated from the traditional college coursework. Team-based learning is expansive and critical. Many majors share the same classes and include electives outside their core coursework. You may work with someone on a film project, then later again on an animation project.
Non-major related subjects are taught in the context of the major. For instance, a math course for a fine arts major may teach how to complete taxes as an artist. History, as an example, would be introduced as the history of animation for animation majors.
Near the end of the tour, I spotted Laurenn McCubbin, Chair of the Comics and Narrative Practice, and sat down with her to discuss the program in more depth.
Columbus Scribbler (CS): Majors range from 80 to 200 people. Where do Comics fall?
Laurenn McCubbin (LM): Comics is the fourth largest major behind Animation, Illustration, and Graphic Design. We’ve grown by leaps and bounds, as we only started this program six years ago. That’s one reason we split off from Illustration this year. I used to be the chair of Illustration and Comics, and now I’m just the chair of Comics.
It was good being nested with Illustration because the two share so many classes but, with the growth in the number of students with specific courses, it became essential for us to have our own major.
CS: Was there anything specific fueling that growth?
LM: There is much more interest in comics in mainstream and independent markets. Graphic novels are moving a lot of units, and people are looking for the next book.
Some of our students are interested in creating an OGN (Original Graphic Novel) or doing the kind of traditional corporate work-for-hire gig with superheroes. Some want to work with companies like Dark Horse, IDW, or Boom on a licensed property.
There’s a lot of hunger for comics. Right now, more prominent publishers like MacMillan or Random House have their graphic novel imprints because comics are becoming readily accepted as a legitimate literature art form.
CS: Can you tell us about the internship program?
LM: One of the reasons I wanted to split off from Illustration was to focus more on the Comics curriculum and student base. I want to include more opportunities for experiential learning. For example, we are putting together a study abroad program right now that’s comics based, as well as partnerships with companies like Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
I know where comic internships might be, from working with a local publisher like Freestyle Komics to working with First Second or MacMillan. Random House, DC, and Marvel all have internship programs, and I want to ensure that we take specific steps to prepare our students for those opportunities.
Comics are an exciting medium, but you have to be able to do a little bit of everything. You have to be good at writing and drawing. You have to be good at managing your career. You have to be entrepreneurial. Many things in comics are different from other artistic practices.
Writing is a big part, but only some have to write as heavily. But the thing about comics is that everyone thinks people go into comics because they want to draw superheroes. Well, that’s not true. Some people are much more interested in writing their own stories, but it’s always great for them to understand what a mainstream superhero artist goes through and understand that process.
I want students, even if they don’t plan on creating their own work or decide not to do comics for a living, to graduate from the comics program and still have coloring, lettering, or editorial skills.
I’ve got one student right now that is prepping for a social media internship with a couple of different publishers. I want people to see that there are lots of different ways to put this degree to work. It’s no secret that college is costly right now. And art school is very expensive. Getting one’s brain around the return on investment for art is difficult. It is not morally right to graduate people who aren’t going to be able to make a living paying off student loans.
Another reason I wanted to focus on the comics major is so that graduates can find a job in this medium.
CS: Do you have any idea of the success rate?
LM: We’re doing pretty well, though we have yet to graduate any giant classes. This year will be our fourth graduating class. We started with people that had been comics minors, then switched over to majors in their last two years. So we had a slow trickle of graduates.
Between Spitball and the Comics major, I have alums working on books from Random House, Andrews McNeil, and IDW. One student, who did a book with Oni, is working on her second book and runs her own publishing consortium. I have another student that has published stuff with Vault.
If I sat down and listed it out, I could give you a dozen graduates working in comics and many others working on their comics while having another day job. Some of them have done amazing work. I have one former student that is incredibly successful on TikTok. She has a huge following and is self-publishing her work. We have a couple of other students doing really well in that self-publishing realm.
CS: Success takes a lot of forms.
LM: Exactly. My whole thing with the success of my students is that I want them to be able to put the skills they learn here to use rather than think, “I didn’t get taught anything useful that would help me get a job doing anything.” I also encourage my more organized students to look at editorial or project management.
CS: What are some of the characteristics of comic students? What are students looking for when they get into the Comics major?
LM: That’s interesting. I was talking to the other professors about the differences we see in our students. Animation students tend to be passive consumers of their medium. Illustration students have a larger range of interests and are entrepreneurial. Game students like to get their hands on stuff.
Comics students are incredibly entrepreneurial, but one of the big differences between them and other majors is they all read. They already know comics. Some of them may only know one area of comics – many of them grew up reading manga. Drawing manga in art school used to be frowned upon, but it still means they are reading comics and working toward understanding storytelling. Their storytelling cues might differ from what we think of as traditional ones, so they are making exciting work. Manga has influenced a lot of great creators, such as Becky Cloonan and Emma Ríos.
My job is to help broaden their knowledge base by giving them other material. Any student who comes in is going to have their favorite thing. And it’s my job to say, “Here is the length and breadth of the world you entered that you didn’t even know was a thing. How many of you are reading non-fiction comics? Let’s look at those.” Those non-fiction comics are a part of the industry that most students need to learn about when they come in.
CS: What is it about teaching that you enjoy?
LM: As chair, I teach two classes a semester instead of three. I enjoy the students.
I love the moment you say, “What about this?” and they say, “What if I do that?” and you build from there. That’s exciting.
It’s the same reason that I also like being an editor. I love talking through art with someone else in the best way possible. Not just for them to realize their vision but also to see what else can be improved. I pride myself on having a ton of industry experience and knowing what people in the industry look for in work. I know how to best present their work. I’ve done everything from self-publishing to corporate Big Two work.
I was the art director for Image. I’ve done books for Dark Horse and Vertigo. I’ve done smaller things like mini-comics. I’ve had a whole breadth of industry experience so that I can help students. If comics are your jam, I can help you be successful.
CS: Were you editing those books?
LM: I started as an artist. I had a couple of comics that came out. I did a book called XXX Live Nude Girls and a couple of small OGNs with a writing and artistic partner named Nikki Coffman.
That got a Xeric Grant back when that grant existed. That launched me to my next thing, where I got to work for Marvel and Dark Horse. I did some work for Vertigo.
I was an artist on an OGN called Rent Girl for Last Gasp with Michelle Tea. That got bought by Showtime and gave me enough money to live on so I could experiment for a while. Then I went to grad school. I attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and got an MFA in studio art. Then I went to Duke and earned an MFA in experimental and documentary art.
CS: What skills did you take from being a professional into the teaching career?
LM: I wanted to show students how to avoid all the pitfalls I fell into when I started doing comics. We’ve designed a curriculum around the most useful skills comic artists can have when they graduate; penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. All that, but also preproduction, entrepreneurship, self-promotion, and “How do you network?” I discussed how to make small talk at an industry event. This is how you table at a convention. This is how you pitch if you want to avoid doing conventions. This is to whom you pitch. This is what happens in the pitch process.
I also teach time management, which I learned deep into grad school because I was drowning and realized I needed to know how to do it. I want students to learn it before they find themselves drowning.
CS: What kind of direction do you see the program going in, or how are you trying to figure that out?
LM: We want to ensure students have a fundamental groundwork in traditional skills. Coloring was an issue. I started a color theory class also to be taken by Illustration, Animation, and Gaming. It also includes a lot of pre-production, like how to send something to press. Something I wish I had known when I graduated, and it was a nightmare to figure out. It’s this arcane thing that is a hidden idea. Like, why is this information so hard to find?
We are adding a digital coloring class. We will add a traditional inking class emphasizing going from thumbnails to inks. I’m focusing on digital lettering because I know how you can make a living as a letterer. Learn how to flat. Learn how to letter. You can get started making a living in comics.
CS: What kind of electives outside of the Comics & Narrative Practice do you recommend for Comics majors?
LM: Figure drawing, figure drawing, figure drawing. They have to take a self-publishing class. They have to take a self-promo class. One of the things we emphasize is writing. It’s one of the ways that we set ourselves apart from other comics majors. Our emphasis on writing is in every semester. You need to take a writing class and incorporate it into your work. We may give you a script written by someone in your class and say, “Draw this,” because we want them to learn how to work in concert with a writer. But, at the same time, that skill in writing is something we want students to be solid on when they leave.
There are a ton of Liberal Arts classes. They have to take creative writing classes. They have to take a graphic novel class. They analyze literature because we want them to investigate other kinds of writing.
CS: How else does CCAD’s program differ from the other comics majors?
LM: Both the emphasis on writing and that I am bound and determined that every kid walking through that door feels like they got their money’s worth. As long as I’m here, that is my job.
It helps that I’m not the head of Illustration with 400 students to look over. I have my hundred and can converse with each and every one of them.
I’m very hands-on with my students. I teach the intro and the capstone class, so I see everyone coming and going.
CS: Do you have any advice for students interested in the program? What would you tell them to convince them to try the Comics major?
LM: We have several non-traditional students. Many of our older students decided they wanted to return to comics later in life. Students who maybe started doing something else like illustrating and said, “No, I want to tell my own stories.”
If you want to tell a story and avoid making a movie, try comics, especially if you love drawing or are interested in sequential storytelling. With comics, you don’t need a multimillion-dollar budget to make people fly or do the impossible. It comes down to doing it as an artist or communicating it to an artist.
There are many different ways to make a living in this industry people don’t consider. Most people think the only way to do it is to work for hire for DC or Marvel. Or have the giant multigraphic novel deal, but there are many ways to do this.
You have to be ready and willing to do the work. You have to have a love for the form. You don’t have to have a love for a specific kind of comic, but you do have to understand what the medium is and what you enjoy about it.
You can find more information about Columbus College of Art and Design and its Comics & Narrative Practice major at their website: ccad.edu