Gainesville is the perfect place to become an artist, with its cultural influence and connection to nature. This is exactly why Tom Hart, 42, of New York City, decided to move to Gainesville to open the Sequential Artists Workshop, a school, studio and library that serves to foster the creation and appreciation of comics.
“It’s a great place to be an artist,” Hart said.
Hart, who taught comics at the New York City School of Visual Arts for 10 years, moved to Gainesville last September and opened the doors of SAW in January.
The studio offers classes taught by a seasoned faculty ranging from introductory comics to finishing techniques.
Hart’s wife, Leela Corman, 39, a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, is part of the faculty. Corman recently returned from a tour promoting her graphic novel, “Unterzakhn.”
“I did most of it in New York City, but I wrote most of it in Gainesville,” Corman said. “I found it so much easier to work here. It’s a really interesting pocket of culture and creativity.”
Corman will be teaching a figure drawing class in a yearlong program the studio is offering in the fall. It will be a lo-fi version of a graduate program offering history, graphic novel reading, drawing and writing-specific classes, Hart said. He will also be teaching in the program.
“The class I teach is mostly coming up with ideas and figuring out how to adapt those ideas in sequential art, in comic form,” she said.
Hart’s love for comics began with the discovery of the Peanuts comic strips when he was 7.
“For years, and I mean like decades, I copied Peanuts,” Hart said.
The name Sequential Artists Workshop was inspired by the Actors Studio in New York City, which is very focused on the student, Hart said.
“Who you are right now is what you have to work with and we’ll develop that,” Hart said. “It’s not to teach you how to do things our way, it’s to help you find the resources to do things your way.”
Tommy Akin, 31, a graduate of Santa Fe College, found this to be true after taking Hart’s beginning and intermediate classes.
“He’s not trying to teach you how to draw,” Akin said. “He’s coaxing your natural ability in that regard to convey a story, a message, a feeling through visual cues.”
The studio also hosts guest teachers. One of these was John Porcellino, who held a weeklong workshop focusing on an autobiographical approach to comics, Hart said. Students came from Australia and all over the U.S. — a turnout that shows the potential for the studio.
“I’d love to expand, I’d love to have more room for a library, I’d love to have 20 or 30 students on a regular basis,” Hart said. “But right now it’s good for the size it is, and we’ll see where it goes.”
A calendar of classes and events can be found on SAW’s website, www.sequentialartistsworkshop.org. This summer there will be a two-week teen intensive as well as a professional inking and drawing techniques class taught by Justine Mara Andersen, who has worked for DC Comics.
“I’m really happy to be involved,” Andersen said. “They have a lot of great potential. It’s a great resource the community should be excited about.”
Justine Nara Andersen, 46, visits the Sequential Artists Workshop Tuesday. She is working on a project about her conversion to Hinduism.
