Manga, a term that represents a style and tradition of comics and cartooning developed in Japan during the late 19th century, has spread in global popularity the last few decades. As the artform increases its profile and influence on popular culture comics, animation, film, and art academics, many Illustrators and academics are becoming interested in learning the craft, and unique aspects of the artform. What better way of exploring the culture of manga and it's many intricacies than traveling to its birthplace, Japan, and interfacing with an institution that specializes in teaching the craft?

This course will take place on the campus of Kyoto Seika University, a partner institution of RISD with a full-fledged Manga, Anime, and Illustration undergraduate and graduate program, led Kyoto Seika faculty and RISD faculty members, multidisciplined artist Eric Telfort (Associate professor, Illustration), and graphic novelist Cat Huang (term appointment, Illustration). Participants will engage in a 3 week intensive cultural exchange experience where they will work alongside student peers at Kyoto Seika, learn traditional Japanese illustration techniques, research the range of manga genres, and meet with leading professionals from the Japanese publishing world. Museums, historical landmarks, and location scouting will provide further cultural context as students develop an appreciation for the influences of manga. While on campus students will develop a 4-page manga, as part of an anthology of short stories by students from RISD and Kyoto Seika, to be printed at a later date. In addition to group critiques, feedback will be provided by RISD and Kyoto Seika faculty, as well as invited professionals from the local publishing community.

The convincing depiction of form in three-dimensional space is one of the great conceptual and philosophic breakthroughs of Western art. In this class, the first half of the sophomore drawing sequence, our main focus will be the study of form in a spatial context. We will use observational and projected systems of perspective in construction of our images. Emphasis will be placed on exploration of conceptual and physical viewpoint, effective composition and convincing light and shadow to shape expression, engage the viewer and create a unified pictorial image. The class will promote acute observation of existing spatial situations, the invention of convincing imagery from imagination, and the successful integration of the two. Exposure to traditional and contemporary drawing masters and practices will provide inspiration for experimentation, personal expression and artistic growth. A series of perspectival studies will build into longer projects integrating observation and invention and concerns for figure and ground. Students will come to grasp the elegance and power of perspective as an approach to drawing, tempered with an awareness of its limitation and alternatives. Several black and white media in addition to charcoal (mixed media, collage, monoprint, caran dache, pastel, etc) and various ways of working (line weight, cross-hatching, additive, subtractive) may be explored.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

When we read, retell, or illustrate, a story, we reveal something about ourselves. What motivates an artist to explore one particular theme over another? Whether it is a political issue, a personal obsession, or of purely aesthetic interest, this course will require students to find personal meaning in the narrative sources they select for class projects. Assignments will include the creation of a visual development project that culminates in a singular narrative illustration, as well as a series of sequential images for a text, and a final project that may be formatted as book, comic, toy, game or other translation of visual narrative. Discussions will include the integration of text and image, POV, composition for storytelling, character turn-arounds, media usage, and style concerns in the service of communicating the essential meaning of a story.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

Elective