New—Syndicated Cartoonists Teach
Adult Master Class Series
at the Schulz Museum

August 21, 2009—Santa Rosa, CA.

Learn the art of cartooning from some of the best in the field in the Charles M. Schulz Museum's first Master Class Series for adults. Syndicated cartoonists Greg Evans of Luann, Brian Crane of Pickles, Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine, and Paige Braddock of Jane’s World are some of the professional cartoonists who will be lending their experience and expertise to the Museum’s new class series. The Master Class Series focuses on developing concepts for a comic strip or graphic novel, honing drawing skills and creating characters. Each class will provide an intimate environment in which budding artists and cartoonists can receive art instruction and advice from syndicated cartoonists.

The Schulz Museum’s current exhibition, The Language of Lines: How Cartoonists Create Characters, provided the inspiration and starting point for the museum’s Master Class Series that will explore the creative process—including how cartoonists develop and sustain concept and story ideas and create endearing characters. Each class has a limited enrollment so that participants can build a rapport with and receive art instruction and advice from top cartoonists. The classes, listed below in more detail, include Character Creation with Brian Crane (Pickles) on September 19; Graphic Novels from the Ground Up with Paige Braddock (Jane’s World) on September 26; The Big Idea with Greg Evans (Luann) on October 24; and The Creative Process: from Writing to Drawing with Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) together with Alexis E. Fajardo (Kid Beowulf) on November 7.

Classes are recommended to people 18 years of age and older. Class size is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance registration is required. Please call (707) 579-4452 #263 for fees and registration information. 

Classes include:

	SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 ● 10–11:30am Character Creation with Brian Crane Join professional cartoonist Brian Crane, creator of the comic strip Pickles, for an intimate lesson in developing comic characters.
	SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 ● 10–11:30am Graphic Novels from the Ground Up Jane’s World creator Paige Braddock will discuss how to create a graphic novel, including how to develop longer narratives and endearing characters.
	SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 ● 10–11:30am The Big Idea with Greg Evans Join Greg Evans, creator of the award–winning syndicated comic strip Luann, and explore how to develop a comic strip concept, strong characters, and interesting situations and stories.
	SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 ● 10am–12pm The Creative Process Join cartoonists Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, and Alexis E. Fajardo, creator of Kid Beowulf, for an exploration of various comic formats—comic books, strips, and graphic novels—and the creative process of writing and drawing to make the most of each format.

About the Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center
The Charles M. Schulz Museum opened in August 2002 to fulfill its mission of preserving, displaying and interpreting the art of Charles M. Schulz. The Museum carrys out this mission through changing exhibitions and programming that: build an understanding of cartoonists and cartoon art, illustrate the scope of Schulz’s multi-faceted career, communicate the stories, inspirations and influences of Charles Schulz, and celebrates the life of Charles Schulz and the Peanuts characters.

[Note: If you would like any of the images in this release at a higher resolution to print in a publication, contact Gina Huntsinger at gina@schulzmuseum.org.]