Healing the Hood Foundation of Memphis

MAW Comic Studio
COMING SOON!

CREATIVELY WINNING BACK THE INFLUENCE OF OUR YOUTH

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Mission Statement:
By combining popular culture with the sense of conceptual freedom, The Heal the Hood Foundation, and MAW Productions will educate young artists interested in the creative and promotional arm of comic books, graphic novels and manga. By providing a hands on environment, we will help students produce a creative body of work and provide them with experience, portfolio pieces and the drive to build their future.

INTRODUCTION
Research has shown that our youth are motivated to perform certain acts based on a variety of reasons and the media happens to be one of the strongest influences on our youth aside from their peers. The Comic Studio’s mission is to find and implement creative methods to provide educational, cultural, social economic, and community change in the city of Memphis and surrounding areas. MAW Productions and HTH Foundation Of Memphis through The
Comic Book Studio intends to address this problem using four principal goals:

• To inspire and give students reason not to fall prey to violence and social deviance while providing a new outlet for creative energies.
• To use the power of mainstream comic books and graphic novels to inject positive thought into action, combining creative design with life skill principles that challenge the mindset of young people today while empowering them to make a difference in their communities.
• To create comic books, graphic novels, and designs that show how youth can, not only be productive in society, but can produce mainstream quality products in a way that encourages others to explore their creative abilities.
• To bring together and employ as interns young people who model positive examples in the community so that the students they service can see them as positive role models.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Comic Studio takes an innovative approach to creative design that combines fine art, writing and graphic design skills with goal setting techniques that entertains and challenges the mind of today’s youth, empowering them to see a project through to completion.

The Comic Studio houses 24 individuals that will be divided into groups based on age for two 8 week semesters. The target age groups range from 12 - 18. The selected students will learn the skills needed to produce their own comic book, graphic novel or manga. The classes will specialize in three main areas:

Illustration:
Sketching, Penciling, Inking, Digital Painting. These are all techniques that a comic book artist needs in order to successfully complete an assignment. Students will take place in life drawing, gesture drawing, cartooning and ink and painting sessions in order to broaden their artistic arsenal and build their portfolio base.

Graphic Design:
From logo design, to billboard design. Students will be faced with the interesting task of how to guide a reader from panel to panel and page to page of a graphic story. Font choices and color all effect the design of the comic book and students will learn the fundamentals needed for a complete visual piece.

Writing:
It all begins here. Writing skills are what drives a successful story. However, it is also needed to write a successful resume or that all important essay paper. Students here will learn the value of writing and the power it has on perception.

Advertising:
The creative process is only a fraction of the job of producing artwork. In today’s fast paced world, marketing your work is just as important. Here students will come up with innovative ways to market their work in a competitive artistic world.

Each student will be responsible for creatively providing ideas, designs, concepts, sketches and / or writing solutions used to produce professional quality comic books and graphic novels. Through The Comic Book Studio, students will have the opportunity to create their own portfolio and
begin their career in the graphic arts.

Martheus Wade will be helming The Comic Studio. He has worked in comic book productions since graduating from the University of Memphis in 1998. After completing his internship at Signature Advertising, Martheus worked as graphic designer and Art Director for Redmond Design. After five years in the ad agency, Martheus struck out on his own as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator working with companies such as the Radison Hotel, Trust Marketing and Senior Services.

He has illustrated for Maximum CNG, Image Comics, Shooting Star Comics, Approbation Comics and Slices just to name a few. Recently, he has worked on such titles as Action Man and Nanovor for IDW, Marvel Comics Masterpiece card series, and illustrated, wrote, and produced a comic book crossover with his own character, Jetta, and William Tucci’s, Shi. His work has been used for the movie Role Models from Universal Pictures as well as for the instructional DVD and book, Hi-Fi Digital Color for Comics available from IMPACT Publishing. He has illustrated the Star Wars franchise for Topps Card Company as well.

His creation, Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa has been optioned for a motion picture and is currently in production. Martheus and the qualified artists and volunteers that will make up the staff, will embrace the youth in their respective interests. The studio will also bring together young people that model positive examples in the community so that a greater sense of self-esteem and leadership is demonstrated to all that come in contact with them.

For more information on the Comic Studio
and other innovative programs, please contact
LaDell Beamon
CEO and Founder
Heal the Hood Foundation of Memphis
901-483-0278

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