Meltdown, Inc.

Minicomics Invasion Day Is Coming to Meltdown Comics! February 11 from 12 to 5pm!

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Feb 022012

On Saturday, February 11, from 12 to 5pm, the students from Meltdown University director Jim Higgins’s college classes will be presenting and selling their minicomics to YOU! These students from Otis College of Art and Design and CalArts will be showing off the great comics they’ve made during this past Fall semester in the college-versions of the Creating Comics Jim teaches at Meltdown. There’s some great work in these minicomics by these fabulous art students, some of whom may be the future stars of their own comics series. And you can discover them now!

(Want to take Jim’s next Creating Comics class, which starts on Wednesday, February 15? Want to find out about the other Meltdown U classes like the Webcomics and Inking and Coloring classes which are starting new series in the next week or two? Or learn about the ongoing Kids Comics class? Then go here for more info and to sign up:

http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/meltdown-university/

http://www.meetup.com/DrawMelt/

And what else are you doing on with your Saturday afternoon anyway — watching reality television? Spending important hours of your life on Facebook? Hanging around in some stupid park where you’ll just wind up with grass stains on your jeans? Your really good jeans? Instead, bring yourself down to Meltdown and see these rising stars and get some great comics. We have spoken!

Two pages from the minicomic by Otis student Carolyn Tom.

Meltdown University Expands! Learn How To Write And Draw Comics!

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Jan 282012

Comic Book Writing And Drawing Classes Are What’s Hot!

Meltdown University announces the start of its next series of classes on writing and drawing comics, Creating Comics, plus a brand new series, Inking and Coloring Comics. What started three years ago as just one class, has now expanded to seven classes on five different subjects and is still growing. It’s a graphic novel school in the making!

“I was doing private classes in New York City while I was also teaching in the Cartooning and Illustration Department at The School of Visual Art,” said Meltdown U Program Director and former DC Comics editor Jim Higgins. “When I moved to LA, I approached Meltdown Comics about hosting similar classes. They were very receptive and supportive, and already doing things like gallery shows and book signings. Owner Gaston Dominguez-Letelier turned out to be probably the most innovative and aggressive event host in the comic book business. I started the classes and ran them just like a semester of my college comics courses, but for a lot less money.”

The program has now grown to include two sections of Creating Comics, where the students either write and draw their own minicomic (a short-run, locally printed, photocopied comic) or write a short comic book script. In the past six months, the program has added an ongoing Kid’s Comics class for ages 7 to 12 taught by LA artist Donna Letterese, a Web Comics class about doing comics on the Internet by comedy writer and editor of the humor magazine The Devastator Geoffrey Golden, two DrawMelt: Life Drawing classes moderated by artist and celebutante Satine Phoenix, and will soon add more.

Meltdown U’s newest offering, Inking and Coloring Comics, is starting on Tuesday, February 14 at 7pm. The class is taught by professional comics artist and colorist Chris Northrop, who has worked for Marvel, DC, and other major comics companies. “Inking and coloring are skills very specific to comics and we’re one of the only places in California where you can learn them in one place,” Higgins said. Northrup has been teaching comic art for years.

So who takes these classes? Screenwriters, graphic artists, computer programmers, teachers, social workers – anyone who has a story to tell and wants to do it with comics! Higgins also teaches comic book classes at Otis College of Art and Design and CalArts, but says, “Meltdown U is for everyone.”

The next Creating Comics class begins Wednesday, February 15 from 7 to 9:30pm.

The next Web Comics class starts Saturday, February 11 from 12 to 3pm.

The Kid’s Comics class meet on Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30pm and is ongoing.

To sign up for these classes, go to: www.meltcomics.com/blog/meltdown-university/

The DrawMelt: Life Drawing classes meet on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm and are ongoing.

To sign up for these classes, e-mail Satine at DnD@Meltcomics.com.

Happy New Year from all of us at @MeltdownComics! See you 2012

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Dec 312011

Meltdown University Expands! Webcomics and Kids Comics Classes Offered!

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May 242011

As it nears its third anniversary, Meltdown University is about to more than double the amount of classes offered! In addition to our Creating Comics and Drawing Basics classes, we’re announcing two new classes and will be adding two more in just a couple of weeks.

First up is The Webcomics Workshop. The class will meet for eight weeks and will cover developing your comic idea, designing the page, marketing, and more. It will be taught by Geoffrey Golden, who has written for National Lampoon, Warner Bros., and Comedy.com. Geoffrey is also the writer of the popular webcomic Leetstreet Boys, and is the Editor-In-Chief of the bold, exciting… dare I say, brash? anthology of comics and comedy called The Devastator. The class will meet on Saturdays from 12 to 3pm and starts June 4th so sign up now!

The second is Drawing Comics For Kids. Moms, Dads, caretakers, if you’ve got kids between the ages of 7 and 10 years old, we’ve got a place for them to learn about drawing and to practice making their own comics. It will be fun and a great way for them to express their creativity and ideas. The class will be taught by Donna Letterese, who has taught kids how to make comics for years, is a comics editor, a tutor, and a talented artist herself. Donna’s art has appeared in juried exhibits and gallery shows all around the city. The class will meet on Tuesdays from 4 to 6pm and starts July 5th.

For more information & to sign up, click the link below. Tell your friends and pass it on!http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/meltdown-university/

Screenwriting Workshop. Focus: Superheroes. Sign up now @meltdowncomics

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Oct 032010

So you’ve sold a script and you’re excited. But what’s the next one going to be? What if you’re thinking about doing a superhero story and you’re not a comics fan? Or you didn’t grow up reading about Superman, Spider-man, and Batman?

What if you’re an aspiring screenwriter and you think you’d like to break in with a script about people with super powers?

There have been more and more movies and TV shows made about superheroes that have been good and successful. There are ones made from existing comics characters Batman: Dark Knight, Watchmen, the three Spider-man movies, lesser known ones from comics like Wanted, Astroboy, as well ones made from original screenplays that are either about super people, like The Incredibles,Hancock, or My Super Ex-Girlfriend, or films and shows that draw heavily on superhero mythology and traditions like The Matrix, Buffy, Heroes, and Chuck.

Here at Meltdown University, we know superheroes. Melt U head instructor and Program Director Jim Higgins has 16 years of experience in the comics business, including six years as an editor and assistant editor at DC Comics, 12 years as a comics teacher, a BA and MA in cinema studies, and five years experience teaching film studies at The City University of New York. His workshop will give you a grounding in story structure and then an overview of the history, mythology, and various aspects of the superhero story so you can do your own and do it well.

If you’re interested in doing a script about how heroes can better society, or how power corrupts, and the superhero story is going to be your vehicle, sign up for this one day seminar. We’ll make you do painful homework in preparation like watch good movies and read a couple of great graphic novels. We think you’ll have fun and learn something in the process.