July 16, 2018

Coco Fox ′19 is about to start her second year at The Center for Cartoon Studies. Born in Indiana, she worked as a graphic designer for four years in North Carolina, then in film industry in LA. As she said, “The Location, Location, Location comic by Alec Longstreth definitely made me want to check out this tiny, weird town.” She recently did the following interview with Angela Boyle ′16.

What summer workshop did you attend? 

I attended the Beginning Animation workshop with Alec Longstreth. I had been teaching myself animation for about a year, then learned twice as much as I had taught myself in this five-day class. I was kicking myself for not taking this class sooner!

What was your background with comics before attending the CCS summer workshop?

Before taking the class, I had done a few storyboards for work and had a bimonthly comic in a school newspaper. I had been making gifs and animations for fun.

How long was it between the workshop and starting your first year? Did the workshop convince you to attend the degree program?

I was so pumped from the workshop that I applied to CCS within a week of our final day of class. I figured if I learned this much in five days, I’d learn s,o so much more in a two-year program. Talking to the current CCS students in my course also convinced me to apply for the master’s program.

What was the most important thing you learned in your workshop?

The most important thing I learned from my workshop is the process of testing out the animations and correcting the mistakes. It made a huge difference to make changes in the walk cycle.

How has the school program compared to the workshop?

My introduction to The Center for Cartoon Studies was through an animation course, but I also had an interest in making comics. I have learned so much about how to schedule time and produce an incredible amount of work from my first year at CCS. We call the first year “boot camp” because you are making a lot of comics in short deadlines and drawing all day every day. It was the most productive and the happiest I’ve ever been. The teachers are all working cartoonists, so the feedback and information that they can give you is incredibly valuable.