AMA: CalArts vs Almarts??
Alma College never had the street cred of CalArts, but it had Kent Kirby, and that was enough
Q.: With all this talk about Pixar animators learning a cookie cutter drawing style at the California Arts Institute, was there ever an "Alma College Style" that you and other art students were taught, Brad, or did your teachers have a diverse range?
On my first campus visit to Alma College in 1987, I met the head of the Art Department, Kent Kirby. Although I never asked — and he never implied — I was nonetheless convinced that he was related to Jack. Between that and a very generous scholarship, I was bound for Alma later that year.
I visited several universities, and talked to several art professors. Kent was one of the few who really lit up when I talked about my love for comics and cartooning. He took it very seriously, and he had a deep mental catalog of artists and styles. He could talk comics with the best of them.
His look was that of a textbook curmudgeon. A houndstooth tweed jacket with elbow patches over a turtleneck. The ubiquitous handmade ceramic mug with cold coffee. The pipe clenched between long teeth.
But his personality was the exact opposite. He had a disarmingly wicked sense of humor, and could rattle off tales from his rather adventurous past that would undoubtedly be frowned upon in the department today. I loved him so much.
If there was an Alma College style, it had little to do with visuals, and more to do with following that same quest for adventure. Trying new things. Screwing around just to see what might happen. Seeing what you could get away with.
Kent was a master of a 19th century printing process called collotype, a gelatin-based photographic printing process that prints images in a wide variety of tones without the need for halftone screens. There aren't a lot of collotype groupies out there, but one afternoon, while I was inking a comic strip, he shared his Claim to Fame.
"If you ever watch 'Animal House,'" he rasped, "Pay attention to the part where the horse dies. There's a scene where all you can see of the horse is its legs sticking straight up. Right there, between its legs, you can see one of my collotypes."
So, yes, more people have heard of the CalArts style, but Alma College had Kent Kirby.
And everybody knows you can’t beat a dead horse.
