Founding Documents and Drawings:
Marking 20 Years of CCS

An Exhibition of Original Art

When the time came to create The Center for Cartoon Studies’ first brochure, I knew exactly who I wanted to work with. In 2001, the Canadian cartoonist Seth and I each had books out by the same publisher, and we went on a promotional tour together. His book, Vernacular Drawings, was a collection of sketchbook drawings that included many of the small towns that dot the Canadian landscape. I had just moved to Vermont and had rented a small studio space in White River Junction.  There was poetry in Seth’s drawings that I recognized in my new surroundings.

In 2004, when word started getting around that a cartoon college was setting up shop, there was plenty of head scratching. If an MFA in painting or poetry already struck many as a dubious pursuit, then studying comics seemed downright foolish. At the time, the term “graphic novel” was hardly in common use, and comics were still largely associated with Garfield and Spider-Man. More than once, I heard people assume CCS was a school for clowns. Alison Bechdel captured some of that skepticism in a 2004 cartoon for Seven Days (on display in the exhibition).

The location didn’t help. Once a bustling railroad village, White River Junction had fallen on hard times. After the Interstates bypassed the town and shoppers crossed the river to tax-free New Hampshire, “the Junc” slid into decades of decline. Our first brochure had to accomplish two things at once: communicate a vision for what comics could be, and convey the weather-worn beauty at the heart of White River Junction.

The first brochure also introduced the character Inky Solomon, who has since been drawn by many cartoonists. This exhibition includes Laura Park’s sketches of Inky, as well as a comic featuring the character, created in honor of CCS’s first graduating seniors by Joe Lambert—then a rising senior—and Alec Longstreth, then a fellow.

Beyond the brochure, all of the aspects of CCS’s “brand identity” had to land. There was no campus, no alumni, no proof of concept—only the materials we put into the world. CCS worked with Michel Vrana of Black Eye Design to create CCS’s stationery and logo. Michel was also a comic publisher at the time, having serialized Dylan Horrocks’ influential graphic novel, Hicksville, and being the original publisher of CCS instructor Jason Lutes’ Berlin. Michel worked closely with CCS cofounder Michelle Ollie, whose design background proved instrumental in establishing CCS’s graphic identity. CCS’s first diploma, created by Ivan Brunetti, is also on display, beginning the tradition of having a celebrated cartoonist design a one-of-a-kind diploma for each graduating class.

And finally, to commemorate CCS’s 20th anniversary, Seth and I reunited to create Cartooning Season, a new publication celebrating cartooning’s art and traditions—both real and imagined.

—James Sturm