Vermont'd, part II

So, I mentioned in a previous post the beginning of my journey to Vermont to check out CCS. After many traveling issues and setbacks (I will not elaborate here, for this is an artblog, not a "Fuck! Delta send nude pics of me from the body scanner to all major media outlets and hence labeled my dong a terrorist" blog), I arrived an hour late to the portfolio day, and just in time for the tour.

WRJ is a quaint and personable little town, full of love for arts and comics. I was very impressed with the cooperation between school and city. The workspace seems quite endearing, and utterly focused on considering and developing a thirsty love for comics. Then they fed us pizza and we chitchatted. I even got to screen print for the first time while waiting for my portfolio review.

Jason Lutes was the dude lucky enough to look at my stuff, and he is a very personable and articulate man. The review was extremely neato, and he had some real insight as to what he thought I was doing well, and also areas I could stand some improvement. He seemed reasonable impressed with the level of my folio and my industry for coming all the way from Missouri to visit their school. Even though we were pressed for time, I came away glowing because he was the first intern at Fantagraphics and he dug that I'm into Alex Toth.

After that, I spent most of the afternoon checking out the local area with a fellow prospective student from Iowa named Will. We had a nice dinner(Will bought my meal, and I thanked him for taking me on such a nice man-date) and then watched the pilot episode from the 1970's live-action Supaidaman(Spider-man) TV show (which I maintain is at least equal to the US version starring Nicholas Hammond, although with way better special effects) and a sweet DIY animated film called "Sita Sings the Blues," all presented by none other than Steve Bissette, who is also a very friendly guy. Also, a fucking champ of the page.

Later on, drinks and unicorns were had and many a sweet chat about comics, and further travel conundrums. I would go on at least with total geek envy, but I have some veneer of pride to maintain, and I'm going to be late for work unless I hoof it.

Lastly, it sucked that I spent so much time in crappy hotels by myself, but at least I got caught up on "The Walking Dead."

-Jams