Academic Catalog

GID 37: CARTOON & COMIC ILLUSTRATION I

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2023
Units: 4
Hours: 3 lecture, 3 laboratory per week (72 total per quarter)
Advisory: Not open to students with credit in GID 72 or GRDS 73A.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • The student will be able to create cartoon illustrations utilizing verbal or non verbal humor
  • The student will demonstrate facility with hand tool, rendering surfaces using drawing equipment
  • The student will demonstrate and understanding of contemporary style trends

Description

Fundamentals of drawing cartoons for mass communication with a variety of styles and techniques. Emphasis on skills, concepts, humor, and design. Exploration of career opportunities.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Produce cartoon illustrations, utilizing verbal or non-verbal humor
  2. Employ emotional expression, clarity of ideas, and a definite point of view
  3. Demonstrate facility with hand tools and rendering surfaces
  4. Utilize contemporary style trends
  5. Display familiarity with cartooning occupations
  6. Show a sensitivity to multi-cultural populations responding to cartoons
  7. Critically evaluate, define, and discuss their own projects and the projects of student peers

Course Content

  1. Cartooning as an occupation
    1. Comic books (Lec)
    2. Newspaper strips and panels (Lec)
    3. Political cartoons (Lec)
    4. Books and magazines (Lec)
    5. Greeting cards (Lec)
    6. Posters and advertising (Lec)
    7. Animation (Lec)
    8. Novelties (Lec)
  2. Gag-writing and humor (Lec)
  3. Animation storyboards (Lec)
  4. Caricatures (Lec)
  5. Character development (Lec)
  6. Staging and design (Lec)
  7. Pacing (Lec)
  8. Hand skills with pen, marker, and brush (Lec)
  9. Lines and tones (Lec)
  10. Culturally-diverse readership (Lec)
  11. Rendering cartoons
    1. Rendering of cartoon illustrations, utilizing verbal or non-verbal humor (Lab)
    2. Rendering of cartoon illustrations that employ emotional expression, clarity of ideas, and a definite point of view (Lab)
    3. Rendering of cartoon illustrations, demonstrating facility with hand tools and rendering surfaces (Lab)
    4. Rendering of cartoon illustrations that utilize contemporary style trends (Lab)
    5. Rendering of cartoon illustrations that display familiarity with cartooning occupations (Lab)
    6. Rendering of cartoon illustrations that show a sensitivity to multi-cultural populations responding to cartoons (Lab)
  12. Critique and presentation (Lab)
    1. Presenting works of art for peer review (Lab)
    2. Evaluation of content, context, form, and technique (Lab)

Lab Content

  1. Cartoon drawing assignments
  2. Character sketches
  3. Model sheets
  4. Drawing cartoons in TV, film, video, and panel layout formats

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. Drawing tables and a light table.
2. When taught via Foothill Global Access: on-going access to computer with email software and capabilities; email address; JavaScript-enabled internet browsing software.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Evaluation of cartoons produced. Evaluation of each project is determined by how completely it fulfills the parameters and goals of the assignment
Participation in group discussions and critiques
Reading, research, and writing assignments

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Electronic discussions/chat
Laboratory
Demonstration
Class critiques

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Blair, Preston. Cartoon Animation (Collector's Series). 1994.

Although this text is older than the suggested "5 years or newer" standard, it remains a seminal text in this area of study.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Reading assignments:
    1. Assigned textbook
    2. Handouts
    3. Internet research sites
  2. Writing assignments:
    1. Writing for cartoons
    2. Writing portfolio and artist's statements
    3. Writing research reports

Discipline(s)

Graphic Arts