A New Year, New Classes!

Yes, it’s that time again…time to tell you the glories of the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop, and all it’s classes.

TCW has expanded it’s selection of children’s art classes, and there are now classes available after school, and on Saturday and Sunday. Kids’ workshops will run for nine weeks. Classes for adults run in the afternoon, late afternoon, and early evening, and will run for seven weeks.

Ty will be teaching Writing for Comics, on Monday evenings (January 10-February 21) and  Professional Layout and Storytelling for Comic Books and Graphic Novels on Tuesday evenings. Comic Book Inking:  4 Perspectives will run on Wednesday evenings, and I believe Ty will be teaching the first two classes (check with Sean Menard).

To the best of my knowledge, there are still spaces available in all TCW classes (all you savvy Christmas shoppers, saving their bucks and waiting to see what’s left after the holidays!), but they go fast this last week, so contact Sean Menard NOW! NOW! NOW! at Toronto Cartoonists Workshop and get in the class of your choice.

Ty is not the only instructor at TCW (hence that whole “4 Perspectives” idea behind the inking course!). Others, this semester, are:

the inimitable Leonard Kirk—Cover Design and Layout, co-taught with…

Kalman Androsofszky

Scott Caple—Basic and Fundamental Drawing

Eric Kim—Manga Dojo Level I

Joseph O’Brien–Screenwriter’s Workshop:  Basic Training (Joe is fitting this class in before he goes off to watch filming of his latest screenplay, announced last year at Cannes, and produced by Guillermo del Toro. So–yes, Joe knows of what he teaches)

J. Bone–1/4th the Perspective for Comic Book Inking

Sam Agro–another 1/4th for Comic Book Inking

Craig Yeung–making a full 4 Perspectives for Comic Book Inking.

Kids’ Workshops will be taught by

Eden Bachelder—Acrylic Painting

Ruzya Karpinec—Cartooning for Kids, Flipbook Animation

Walter Dickinson (the man who founded TCW)–Drawing Rodeo

Dave Lapp–Cartooning and Illustration for Kids

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Keiren

Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp

It’s summer here (more or less) and the kids will soon be out of school, which means it’s time for their dad to go off and teach others. Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp Part Two will be starting up on Monday, June 28, as part of the offerings of the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. If you have ever, at any point, taken Part One you are able to enrol in Part Two.

Students come out of Ty’s Bootcamps revved up and ready to go…(check out the work of the stalwart members of the original incarnation of Bootcamp Comics. Or Greg Dunford’s Hard Drive, or Gibson Quarter’s work on Judge Dredd, Wasted and FutureQuake #15, or Eden Bachelder’s work or…heck, there’s a lot of his students out there!) If you’re interested in being one, contact Walter Dickinson at Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. (And for those who graduate both parts of bootcamp, there’s a new, by invitation only, “Fit to Print” class, where you work closely with Ty and a bunch of your fellow graduates to put together an all-new all original comic book to be distributed at Toronto conventions…especially those with editors in attendance!)

And, just to let you know…Ty will be teaching Part One in the fall, so he won’t be teaching Part Two again until next February (at which point, there will be two classes of Part One-ers looking to sign up).

Keiren

New Comics Day!

After being trapped in my studio for months, working on the new Dexter: Early Cuts animated webisode, and some Simpsons stories, I’m finally free enough to go to a comic store for New Comics Day…something I’ve not done since November of last year.    They still have comics on Wednesdays, right?

For those of us in the biz in Toronto, heading to my local comic stores (the Silver Snail in Toronto, and Altered States out here in the suburbs where I live) It’s a little like going to CHEERS and having everybody shout “Norm” when you walk into the room.  It recharges the batteries and reminds me that I actually LOVE this job…and it inspires a competitive attitude in me to see all the great work coming out week after week.

Imagine:  We have Bryan Hitch, Michael Lark, Howard Chaykin, Alex Ross, Butch Guice, Ed Brubaker, Art Adams, Alan Davis, Kyle Baker, David Finch, Stuart Immomen, Leinil Yu, Danny Slott, Mark Waid, and HUNDREDS of other top flight creators making comics art for us RIGHT NOW.  Not at some nebulous, nostalgic time where everything was better…but right NOW.  Covers, scripts, full issues…all flowing from an overwhelming group of creators, and I’m only scraping the surface of Marvel and DC type folks.  When you look at the panoply of available comix  out there in the indies, the self publishers, IDW, Dark Horse,  the online stuff…why don’t people call THIS the golden age?

My friend and co-conspirator in the Toronto Comics Workshop, Walter Dickenson, was with me at the last convention I attended, and he saw me heading over to the tables where they sell comics for a dollar, usually something from the last decade a dealer has overstocked.  When Walter saw me returning with about a hundred “dollar comics” he asked me why I bought them and I pointed out copies of Greg Land Ultimate FF comics, Jackson Guice issues of RUSE,  Busiek ASTRO CITY DARK AGE stories, Jerry Ordway’s RED MENACE, Warren Ellis Cliffhanger miniseries….all for a DOLLAR?   He asked me “What are you going to do with all those comics, Ty?” and I got confused by the question.

“I’m going to read ’em, Walter….and have a great time in doing so.”  Apparently, I’m like the last working pro who STILL can’t get enough of these funny books.  Does that make me sick?

Ty the Guy.  Smiling with anticipation at what glories the day might bring…

(Ty challenged me to hyper-link the bejeesus out of his entry…I hope you’re happy, Guy!  And I’m aware that Ty’s episode of Dexter: The Early Cuts is online…for various reasons, we are not linking to it at this time, but will at a later point).

(you never know who you’ll run into at your local comics store…like Jimmy Olsen.  Yes, that’s our son, Kellam–he’s a member of the clan, god help him.)

Workshops!

Time is definitely running out to enroll in any of the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop offerings…classes start February 1.

And…Walter Dickinson has just announced that the one and only Pat Davidson will be the fourth instructor for the inking workshop!  Check out Pat’s work on his website, then sign up now, over at TCW.

Sketching by Ty

Walter Dickinson has been at it again! Now he’s posted vids of Ty doing sketches at FanExpo August 2009, on the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop site.

Keiren

Talent is…

Walter Dickinson, of the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop, has posted video of Ty giving his famous (infamous?) speech about the myth of talent.   Watch it and be inspired to learn, learn, learn.  And practice.

Ty teaches…

Ty taught courses at Max the Mutt Animation School for a couple of years.  He began by teaching his Comic Book Bootcamp, then turned to teaching courses during the day for the school’s Sequential Arts program.

After a semester teaching three courses full-time, he realized he had no free time to actually work on comic books–and Ty has always maintained that in order to teach others how to do something like “how to make comics for a living” one has to make a living at it oneself.  Not only to make a living–but to keep up on what is new, fresh and modern.  The comics of 2009 are very different from those of 1989, and it’s a style difference that is not just from the widespread use of computers to make those comics.

So, Ty left teaching at Max the Mutt.

The Toronto Cartoonists Workshop was founded by a student, Walter Dickinson, who took Ty’s Comic Book Bootcamp courses (and had actually lobbied to have Max the Mutt offer those courses, and to create the Sequential Arts program). The Workshop is currently offering courses taught by Ty and by Paul Rivoche.  There are plans to offer other courses including some weekend-long ones.  If you live in the GTA and you’re interested, check out the website periodically to see what’s on offer.

Ty’s current workshop is fully booked (and has a waiting list).  But, Ty will be teaching other workshops next year (February 2010).  If you’re interested, book early–these courses fill up quickly.