Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does your program offer degrees? Why or why not?
A: No, our courses are focused on helping students in very specialized areas that most degree programs don't offer. We allow students to take as many or as few courses as they want. Degree schools are required to put the student through a specific number of credit hours, and that often means creating a bloated curriculum of barely related "fluff" classes, adding tens of thousands of dollars of student debt to attain a degree in a field where demonstrable skills largely outweigh a degree.

Q: How many courses should a student take?
A: There is no maximum or minimum requirement, but our courses are all crafted to fit together and strengthen each other. The more courses a student takes, the more the pieces fall in place. Creative Heads and Hands and Creative Figures and Forms work together to teach students how to draw an unlimited number of body types and faces. If they add Action Anatomy, they learn how to pose those characters in endless ways. Character Design teaches students how to take those forms and turn them into characters fit for video games, movies or comic books. And the comic book courses teach students how to put their characters into illustrated stories. All courses help students learn how to build portfolios to get jobs in the entertainment art industries, or how to create their own independent ideas that they own.

Q: How important is a degree in the comic book, movie and video game art industries?
A: It varies greatly. For example, students who make it through a program like those found at the legendary Art Center (Pasadena, CA) or Gnomon (Los Angeles, CA) and develop professional portfolios historically have a great chance of getting jobs immediately upon graduation in video games or movies. But there are some very expensive art schools that don't teach students the skills needed in those fields. And if a student's portfolio doesn't demonstrate that they have the right skills, their chances of getting hired in their dream fields are very slim. Many students end up with tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand dollars (or more) of debt and don't graduate with the skills or portfolio to get them work. Art directors can look at a portfolio and know in ten seconds if a job applicant has the right skills or not. If their skills or portfolio are weak, it doesn't matter if they have an expensive degree. Job seekers with dynamic and amazing artwork but no degree often have a better chance of getting work than one with an expensive degree but the wrong skills or a bland or amateur art style. Comic books rarely require degrees if the job seeker has the right skills and can meet deadlines. But there are more people seeking comic book jobs than there are comic book titles, so prospective comic book artists need to stand out and demonstrate strong work ethic and deadline responsibility. The good news is that it has never been easier for someone to create their own comic books and either turn them into webcomics, or print and distribute them, or even set up print-on-demand or digital download options.

Q: How do your course costs compare to degree art schools or colleges?
A: We try to keep our courses as affordable as possible, but we have far fewer courses than degree schools. Look at us as a way for students to get a distilled, informative introduction to the art side of movies, video games and comic books without putting them into debt. After taking our courses, if they wish to move into a degree school, they will go in with a big leg up on other students. Provided is a link to the Cleveland Institute of Art where you can look at tuition, fees and more. Looking at their 2024-2025 Fall term, the fees alone come to over $2100, or the cost of around 6 of our 5-week courses. According to their website, the estimated cost for a full time student is $31,335 for one term. A BFA Degree takes 4 years (8 terms), coming to around $248,000 (not including annual price increases).
Please Note: We are not challenging CIA or their methods and practices. We are a completely different type of school, offering a smaller, more focused catalogue of classes not available at many larger schools. We are able to offer those classes at a low but fair price for students who want the knowledge without the costs and commitment required for a degree program.

Q: How many students are in your classes?
A: For most classes, we try to keep the maximum number of students at ten (10) so that we can get to know each student individually and help them to get the most out of their education and classroom time. However, this means that classes can fill up quickly, and most classes will only be offered once in 2024 as we learn more about the Cleveland entertainment art community. We hope classes become popular enough for us to expand our offerings in 2025.

Q: What ages are your classes designed for?
A: We have three age groups we are aiming at: Adults (18+), High School Students, and Middle School Students.
Classes for adult students are being held on Sundays (and occasional Saturdays) in 2024, with possible expansion to week nights in 2025 if demand dictates we do so. On a case-by-case basis we may allow dedicated, focused and mature 16+ students if we have space, but these courses will be more focused than those for younger students.
During summer break, we will be offering week-long classes that meet five consecutive days, Monday through Friday, and will be split into high school and middle school Tracks. See our course list for more information. We have four weeks scheduled, with two Tracks per week, but have left room to expand into another 4 weeks if demand is high enough.

Q: Who are you and what is your history?
A: Creative Forge Academy of Art & Design is a new Cleveland-based school focused on helping those with a desire to grow their art skills in the areas of comic books, movie art, video game art, and other related fields, whether for fun or to pursue jobs in those fields. The Cleveland location grew out of the Denver Entertainment Art & Design Academy, which was a very successful independent art school founded in 2011 by Zak Hennessey, a Colorado native who found it necessary to leave Colorado in order to find education and work in the above listed industries because those classes and jobs didn't exist in Colorado when he graduated high school in 1992.
He attended an expensive degree-based art school (RMCAD) that didn't teach relevant classes for those industries, and resulted in massive student loans and no work. He then found the Art Academy of Los Angeles/Associates in Art, a school where all the teachers worked in their industries and provided affordable, easily accessible classes that taught real-world skills. Those skills helped Mr. Hennessey join a Los Angeles-based studio that provided art services for Disney, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Showtime, FOX Sports, and more, and he was later invited back to the Art Academy of Los Angeles as a teacher (Concept Art, Character and Creature Design), and would later create the curriculum for their Comic Book program before eventually running the daily operations of the school, where he would learn the business side of the Academy.
Upon returning to Colorado, he created the Denver Entertainment Art & Design Academy to be the school he wished existed when he was seeking his education, so that others with his same love for comic book, movie and video game art would have a place to get their start without having to move to Los Angeles. Many students passed through the classes, and in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of a degree school, they built the skills to pursue their dreams in the industries they loved.
Now he is trying to give the creative dreamers of Cleveland the opportunity to learn the skills that can help them on the path to their goals in the entertainment art fields. (See Student Testimonials here)

Q: What is the state of the comic book industry today?
A: Honestly, we are in "very interesting times." It is looking more and more like small, independent companies are starting to take larger and larger pieces of the industry. Independent comic books are on the rise as the larger companies are struggling with the challenges of today's creative landscape. Many of the most talented and popular creators are leaving the "big two" (Marvel and DC) to publish their own stories, where they have ownership and the ability to license their ideas, create movies or cartoons, toys, apparel, and more. Streaming services are giving more independent comics the opportunity to make television shows or movies based on their stories, hoping for the next big hit or franchise. And a new trend has arisen, as comic book creators are reaching out to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to produce their books. It needs to be said, of course, that these are rare but not impossible circumstances, and the creators making the most money are those that people are familiar with. It takes hard work to succeed in the comic book industry, but a talented and driven individual has a chance to go far if they have what it takes.

Q: What is the state of the video game industry today?
A: There is a LOT going on in the video game industry. The top games (called Triple-A) have the largest budgets, and often the best talent. Getting on a game like that isn't easy, but a driven individual could work their way up the ladder with the right talent, attitude, and ability to talk to people at industry events like conventions, or with a strong portfolio on a site like ArtStation. At the moment there is a battle going on in the industry between people who want to create great games, and people who want to control and censor content, and the wrong kind of press can derail a game (those following game news probably know what I'm talking about.
On the flip side, there are more and more independent games being made every day, and some go on to great success. Cleveland even has a meetup of game designers called The Cleveland Game Developers, and can be found on Meetup.com. Hopeful game artists and designers should attend their meetings and make friends with programmers and developers who may be looking to collaborate with an artist.
Like the comic book industry, the future likely belongs to the independent creators. Triple-A games will still be made, because a successful game brings in a lot of money, but starting on a small or independent game could open a lot of doors up the ladder if that is what one wishes.

Q: What is the state of the movie (art) industry today?
A: Changes are rocking the movie, television and streaming industries. Once unstoppable franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are having a hard time reaching fans and movies with massive budgets are flopping with greater frequency. The recent writer's and actors strike ended in an unstable place. Huge studios want to replace as many people as possible with AI writers, artists, actors and more in order to cut costs and funnel more money to those at the top. This is likely to backfire, but only time will tell.
On the flip-side, this is another industry where it is getting easier and easier to create professional-looking movies and shorts on personal computers and with affordable cameras. Independent studios are doing more with less, as seen with the recent Godzilla Minus-1, which delivered an impactful, award-winning movie at a fraction of the cost of U.S. blockbusters. Artists who can provide great designs for 3D artists have a chance to do well. Currently designs "created (stolen)" by generative AI programs are ineligible for Copyright, which will hopefully help artists find work. But it is likely that artists will need to be proactive and move to collaborate with independent studios as founding members.
Artists can still find followings on social media, and "shorts" or small skits released on YouTube often blow up big, going viral and providing opportunities for the creative teams responsible. Again, with all the flux and change in the industry, it is hard to predict what is coming down the road in the movie industry, but it also looks like smaller independent productions will gain a lot of power in the not-too-distant future.

Q: What are your Summer Camps and what ages are they aimed at?
A: Our Summer Camps are week-long classes created to help middle- and high-school students learn art skills while on their summer break.
The Middle School Track runs Monday through Friday, with classes typically meeting from 9am-noon, with an optional add-on study hall from 1-4pm for students to work on the lessons and homework given in class. Students who are enrolled in both the class and study hall will have an on-site lunch hour from 12-1pm (due to allergies and nutritional requirements, parents or guardians need to provide lunch for their students - we do not have the ability or facilities to supply or prepare food) and a safe place to stay between 9am and 4pm during the week(s) they are enrolled.
The High School Track runs Monday through Friday, with classes typically meeting from 1-4pm, with an optional add-on study hall from 9am-noon for students to work on the lessons and homework given in class. Students who are enrolled in both the class and study hall will have a lunch hour from 12-1pm (due to allergies and nutritional requirements, parents or guardians need to provide lunch for their students - we do not have the ability or facilities to supply or prepare food). High school students can leave the building during the lunch hour to get food at one of the local eateries around the Brownhoist with parental approval.