Like most 12 year-old boys, Darren Singer wakes up early on a Saturday morning, briefcase in hand, ready to pursue a higher education.
All right, perhaps that isn’t exactly how the average 12 year-old spends his weekend. However, thanks to Thornhill cartoonist David Bluestein, more and more preteens and teenagers are taking an interest in composing their own comic book art.
Bluestein, who has worked for D.C. Comics, Marvel Comics, Spawn and Mad Magazine, says that his students arrive each way ready and attentive for his ’Comic Book Masters’ course at Thornhill Community Centre.
"A lot of parents have asked me how I manage to control a bunch of 20 or 30 kids; that’s not even an issue," he says. "The students always have their eyes focused on the front of the room, listening to what I’m saying."
It’s not just preteen boys, either. There are females, teenagers; even people in their thirties trying to conjure up the next Incredible Hulk or Superman.
Of course, while anyone can think up a clever storyline or new breed of intergalactic villain, it takes much more to make a comic book fly. First, you must learn to draw a generic character, deciding on a standard pose and nondescript face. As Bluestein puts it to one of his students "You have to build a house before you can paint it."
From there, one must decide on the history of your characters and the universe it comes from. What enemies do they have? What super-powers, if any, will they employ? Where do they come from? According to Bluestein, all of this must be determined to understand more about the inner workings of your character.
Then comes the costume, be it the ’golden age’ style cape and underpants, or the less-conservative flame-throwing arms. As well, Bluestein teaches his students that although the costumes can be exaggerated, they must never insult the audience. For instance, readers may be put off if a sword simply ’hangs’ from the back of a character without the aid of a holster or strap. While details may not have to be realistic, all of the character’s features - from his Batman-esque utility belt on up - should at least be pliable in comic book terms.
Future classes in the course focus on other aspects of creating a comic book, such as inking and further characterization techniques.
Bluestein, presently working in the film industry, says the course has had a tremendous response from the community since debuting in September, and is something that is very near to his heart.
"This is my way of giving something back to the community," he says. "When I was 14, there weren’t any courses like this available. Basically, I had to draw looking at other comic books."
And as for our friend with the briefcase? Darren, who has been drawing for some 5 years of his young life, is in the midst of developing something for television that involves "a hunter, his two friends, a witch doctor; it’s a whole story that I started a couple of years ago with David."
However, he may be more interested art as a hobby for now, as he would like to "become a vet" when he grows up. Perhaps then The Adventures of Super-Vet will be born.
