It saddens me to report that cartoonist Joe Kubert has passed away today. He leaves a huge legacy of work in comics, including “Sgt. Rock.” I felt like I had gotten to know him a little by taking one of his correspondence courses, which is part of The Kubert School.
Thankfully, the work carries on with Mr. Kubert’s two sons, both successful cartoonists, Andy and Adam. They regularly create work and are part of The Kubert School.
DC Comics has a six issue run of “Joe Kubert Presents,” an anthology to debut this Halloween.
The Kubert School is the place to go to refine your cartoonist chops. I decided to give their correspondence course a try and start in with their inking course.
Here are some introductory observations as I take the plunge. First of all, if all you had was the kit that arrives in the mail, you literally would have everything you need to complete a course. In a pinch, you can even use your box, that acts as your toolkit, as a makeshift drawing surface. There is a wealth of instruction and wise advice packed into the textbook and DVD. The supplies are what the pros use. I was very pleased to be reintroduced to such items as Pro-White and a mechanical pencil. It’s really quite an exciting presentation for those new to, as well as for those familiar with, cartooning.
Go to The Kubert School site to learn more about the actual campus. And, of course, there’s plenty of information on the correspondence course. You can even see some samples of what the critiques are like that you will be getting in response to your homework assignments.
For instance, here is one student’s work:
And here is the critique:
Now, let’s look at how I did with the first lesson in Inking. My assignment was to create textures……
Okay, now here’s the crit I got back:
It’s interesting to see where I went wrong and how I can improve! A serious course like this can feel a bit like walking into the lion’s den. But that’s fine. I want to get straight feedback. For instance, the instructor caught one mistake I should have known better to avoid. I referenced a T-Rex skeleton when I should have used a full-bodied one. No wonder he added meat to the bones of my drawing! So, that was Lesson One, an all-around introduction. Now on to Lesson Two which will take a deeper look at backgrounds and textures.
