April 3, 2018

Dan Nott ′18 is currently a student at The Center for Cartoon Studies, finishing his second year. Dan’s comics and illustrations have appeared in dozens of publications including NJ Advance Media, Fusion’s Graphic Culture, Medium’s Editor’s Picks, Seven Days, The Watch on Washington Post.com, Coindesk, The Illustrated, and The Boston Compass. He did the following interview with Angela Boyle ′16.

What drew you to CCS?

I had been drawing cartoons and short comics, and wanted to learn more about long-form storytelling. I was particularly interested in using comics for journalism and non-fiction stories. I also had my own stories I wanted to tell, and I was interested in developing a comics curriculum. Some of these fell under the umbrella of “applied cartooning” that CCS is encouraging. CCS is a small program with a lot of flexibility and that appealed to me. And it’s been a great place to work on diverse array of projects.

Dan working graphic facilitation for Tedx

You have been doing graphic facilitation for Dartmouth’s Geisel Med school students. What does this entail?

The Graphic Medicine elective was a cool opportunity to get cartoonists and medical students in the same room and talk about where our disciplines could intersect. The class was experimental and was an early iteration, so fellow students Sandy Bartholomew ′17, Rachel Ford ′17, and I did graphic note-taking to cover what went on in the class. We also helped the medical students draw and put together a comics anthology about their experiences at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth called Stress Test. It was inspiring to see how quickly the medical students took to drawing comics—many for the first time. Since then, I’ve found that graphic note taking is a skill that can be widely applied—I was able to use it for a job scribing presentations at Tedx in Boston this fall.

Stress Test, cover by Erienne McCray ′18

What is the work you are doing with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists?

Political cartoons was how I got into drawing comics back in 2012, which at the time felt like a natural outlet for my interests in art, human rights, and journalism. I made a lot of friends through the AAEC, and it was the first cartooning community I was a part of, before I knew about the alternative comics community. Recently, I’ve been helping to update the Locher Award—an award for cartoonists 18–25, to reflect the diverse ways cartoonists are combining art and politics in 2018. It’s run by the AAEC and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at Ohio State. I think it’s a great award for recognizing cartoonists with a really strong voice to their work.

Graphic facilitation notes by Dan

What is your thesis project?

My thesis is a collection of comics, but the main project is a comic on understanding the internet. The idea behind it is that we talk a lot about the problems with the internet—issues regarding net neutrality, cyberwarfare, privacy, and surveillance—without actually understanding what the internet is or how it works. We use all sorts of contradictory metaphors to describe the internet—clouds and tubes and streams—when really it’s made out of physical, commercially owned wires running through buildings and underground and under the ocean. The comic weaves in the colonial history of the telegraph cable and 1960s military computers to provide a bit of context for what the internet is and how it got here. I’ve had CCS alum Andy Warner ′12 as my thesis advisor, and he’s been an amazing support throughout the process.

My thesis also includes various other comics—one dealing with the production and supply chains of the iPhone; some short fiction; and a comic based on dreams I was having while reading way too much about infrastructure.

What are your plans after graduation?

Long term, I’d love to continue working with journalists to integrate comics and reporting, which I did last fall for an expose into New Jersey’s dysfunctional system for investigating suspicious deaths. But since I’ve come to CCS, I’ve also surprised myself in finding that I really enjoy working on fiction comics, teaching a wide range of age groups, and doing jobs like graphic facilitation and notetaking.

Short term: Enjoying summer in Vermont, working at The Center for Cartoon Studies Schulz library, and finally catching up on some books that aren’t comics.

Spy blimp comic by Dan