A 12-week course teaching how to present the gospel through cartoons has
drawn students from the United States, India and Germany to Youth With A
Mission's University of the Nations campus in Kona, Hawaii.
From this month until September they will be studying character development,
drawing and shading techniques, storyboarding and animation, to prepare them
for evangelism through a medium traditionally the home of slapstick humor and
superheroes.
Visiting instructors include Matt Luhn, the computer animator of the astronaut character Buzz Lightyear in the Oscar-winning movie, Toy Story, and the director of animation at the Christian Broadcasting Network, Angela Costello.
"Cartooning is strategic since it can communicate successfully to all age
groups and cultures because of the visual appeal," said school director Terry
Hill, pointing to the renewed interest in comic books in the West, and their
massive popularity in countries like the Philippines and Japan.
"The humor of cartoons has the ability to get through your defenses, making
a point while it makes you laugh, too. In the hands of talented Christians
like Johnny Hart it can make a big impact - his BC strip can give a panoramic
sweep of the gospel in just four frames."
As well as appealing to young and old alike, cartoons can also reach many of
the world's non-readers when words would be wasted, said Hill, who cites
Speedracer and Scooby Doo as among his childhood favorite cartoon characters.
"Medical workers often use cartoons to teach health care procedures in
developing countries."
During the course the students - who had to submit a portfolio of work to be accepted - have to create a new character, and draw up plans for an animated film communicating biblical truths and values.
Afterwards some plan to draw evangelistic booklets for young people, and missions publications. "There are all kinds of applications for cartooning, from gospel tracts and books through to films and the Internet," said Hill. Among the other visiting teachers to the School of Cartooning - a new course in the UofN's College of Communication - is Ian Jones, whose Pearly Gates strip appears in an Australian Christian magazine.
Return to: 
This month's news Index
YWAM Communications
YWAM International
ywam@xc.org