"Thanks!" (UPDATED 04-18-09)

Last month Mirage was visited by a group of students from the Center for Cartoon Studies, accompanied by the man who created that school, acclaimed artist/writer James Sturm. They had come down from the wilds of upper Vermont to see the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, and after that, take a tour of Mirage in Northampton, and do a half-hour meet and greet with me, followed by another session with Kendall Clark, director of the Xeric Foundation.

They were a nice group, and I wish I'd scheduled more time to speak with them, as it seemed we just got going and it was time to stop. Before I left the room and Kendall took over, I gave them each a set of the NECA TMNT figures and a TMNT spiral-bound sketchbook.

Well, yesterday I got this cool "Thank you" card in the mail, from James and the students who came for that visit.



James mentioned in an email that he was the one who drew the color Turtle in the middle of the piece, using one of the NECA figures as a model. Nice!

Also included with the card were these books by a few of the CCS students -- I hope to get to read them this week. -- PL



For more information about CCS, check out their website at:

http://www.cartoonstudies.org/

P.S. I just realized I was remiss in not mentioning the following -- two young women who sat next to me during this event gave me copies of their work. Here's the cover to and first page of "Pair It" by Jen Vaughn...





It's an intriguing story which I think may be part of a larger work (I'm making that assumption based on the fact that Jen wrote "(a sample)" under the title on the cover.)

The other comic was "25¢ AND OTHER TALES" by Katherine Roy. Here's the front cover.



I especially like her drawing style. -- PL