comic artist
You're a talented young comic artist, but can't afford art school. On the high end, tuition costs for schools like Rhode Island School of Design are more than $30,000 annually. On the low end, New York City's School of Visual Arts costs at least $15,000 annually, but living in the Big Apple can be expensive. Fortunately, if you have the talent and the need, there are well-endowed scholarships available specifically for comic artists.
Instructions
1. Develop your portfolio. All scholarship applications will require you to submit examples of your work. Some general arts programs have strict parameters for what they consider to be "comics" - if you draw one-panel comics, you might be asked to submit them for "drawing" scholarships instead. If possible, develop a few one-panel comics, as well as a few multipanel ones; you want to stay true to your interests and style, but being able to cast a wider net never hurts.
2. Go to the National Association of Comics Art Educators' website to see the list of colleges and schools with a comics art curricula. Visit each school's official website. Almost all of them offer scholarships.
You can narrow your search a bit by considering your strengths. Are you an editorial cartoonist, a graphic novelist or a Marvel/DC-style comic book artist? If you fall strictly into one category, you'll better know which type of school and/or scholarship to aim for.
3. Look for independent merit-based scholarships. Some non-profit organizations offer scholarships or run yearly competitions for sizable prize money that can make a big dent in tuition. For example, Diamond, the largest comic book distributor, offers its "Diamond in the Rough" scholarship for the Center for Cartoon Studies. If you're an editorial cartoonist, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists offers the John Locher Memorial Award for student cartoonists. The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCS), the organization that also gives out the prestigious Reuben Award every year, the equivalent of an Oscar for professional cartoonists.
Check with any local arts organizations, especially ones that seem to have corporate sponsors or enough support to hold benefits and well-publicized exhibitions. Also check with your favorite publications to see if they offer something like the "Diamond in the Rough" award.
