Annual Comics Art Forum The Comics Art Forum, hosted by the sequential art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design, represents one of the few major academic acknowledgements of comic art and sequential art storytelling in the nation. The forum permits guests to discuss sequential art concerns from many differing points of view and provides students and the public alike with an opportunity to discuss the art form with a variety of top industry professionals.
Annual Editors’ Day The sequential art department will host Editors’ Day on May 3 and 4. The following guests will visit classes and review portfolios for sequential art students at Norris Hall: William Dennis, editor for DC’s Vertigo line of Comics; Axel Alonso, group editor for Marvel Comics; Chris Staros, editor-in-chief and publisher of Top Shelf Comics; Tim Beedle, editor for Tokyopop; James Lucas Jones, editor-in-chief of ONI Press; Jeff Mason, editor and publisher of Alternative Comics; Chris Duffy, editor of Nickelodeon magazine; and Mike O’Sullivan, SCAD alumus and editor of Devil’s Due Publishing Company.
Kneece Maintains 'Write' Focus in Sequential Art Savannah College of Art and Design sequential art professor
Mark Kneece has a unique accolade: He is the only person ever to be named best local professor in Connect Savannah magazine’s annual “best of …” awards. Kneece helped found the sequential art program at SCAD and teaches writing courses in the department. From the beginning, Kneece has been an integral part of the SCAD sequential art department. He, along with Bob Pendarvis and Bo Hampton, is a founding member of the program, which launched in 1993.
SCAD Student Wins Accolades in Manga When
Daria Theodora was young, she would doodle in class to avoid falling asleep. She also loved reading everything from children’s books to comics to novels. The combination of these two passions would seem to foreshadow a career in sequential art. Yet her initial vocation was bioengineering, which she studied as an undergraduate at the University of California-San Diego. Theodora, who hails from Jakarta, Indonesia, did take some drawing classes outside her major. Now a second-year graduate student in the sequential art department at SCAD, she stands out among her peers.
'Loser' Character Makes Creator a Winner Eight sequential art students from SCAD went head to head in Cartoon Combat, a competition sponsored by the Savannah Morning News, Jan. 29–March 17. Each week, two students published a comic strip in the newspaper, and readers voted for their favorite. Following two rounds of semifinals,
Anthony Fisher, aka “Fish,” was selected as the winner, and his comic strip, “Lou, Sir!,” is running in the Savannah Morning News for an additional 90 days.
Indelible Ink: Through the Sequential Art Program, Students Find Lasting Success in Their Fields SCAD is one of the few colleges in the world to offer a sequential art program — but that isn’t the only reason the department is growing and gaining a strong reputation in comics and related fields. Professor John Lowe, a graduate of the SCAD sequential art program and now in his fourth year as chair, has aggressively sought to expand existing opportunities for students and create new ways for them to
catch the eyes of industry professionals. "Most comics artists don’t get their first professional job until their mid- to late 20s,” Lowe said. “But a year or two after graduation, a lot of our students are getting work.”
Professor Shawn Crystal Helps Shape SCAD-Atlanta Sequential Art Program Shawn Crystal's involvement with SCAD extends to his days as a graduate student in the sequential art department. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2001, studying with a group of classmates — Pat Quinn (2001), John Lowe (2002) and Ray Goto (2002) — who all now serve as faculty members at their alma mater.
Additonal Articles: - — The Comics Art Forum gives sequential art students the opportunity to interact with top professionals through panel discussions, interviews and a blowout reception.
- — Watch as both Savannah and SCAD-Atlanta sequential students race to finish a comic book in twenty-four hours.
