Comic-Con Museum Announces Premier Exhibition “The Animation Academy – From Pencils To Pixels”

San Diego Comic Convention’s Comic-Con Museum, showcasing comics and popular arts, has announced its 2023 exhibits opening Saturday, Febuary 4, featuring “The Animation Academy – from Pencils to Pixels” and “Cover Story: Five Decades of Comic-Con,” as well as updates to the Comic-Con Masquerade display and featuring the PAC-MAN Arcade.

“Our second year at the Comic-Con Museum will bring more interactive features, historic art, guest artists and entertainment opportunities for all ages,” said Comic-Con Museum Executive Director Rita Vandergaw. “We look forward to welcoming new and returning visitors from San Diego and beyond in February and throughout the year.”

“The Animation Academy – from Pencils to Pixels”

The Museum’s new headline exhibit invites visitors to transport themselves behind the scenes of some of their favorite cartoons and animated characters. Animation Academy has over 20 interactive stations, which allow visitors to experiment and create their own stop-motion animated short, learn about the art of storyboarding, snap photos in the sets of their favorite animated TV shows and movies, and see the world’s largest traveling 3D zoetrope.

From traditional hand-drawn cels to cutting-edge breakthroughs in stop-motion and CGI, visitors can see how characters came to life. The Museum will also feature regular drawing classes with professional artists and animators, included with admission.

“The Animation Academy – from Pencils to Pixels” will debut on Saturday, Febuary 4 with special guests Bill Farmer (the official voice of Disney’s Goofy, Pluto and more) and Disney Fine Artist Manny Hernandez, who will offer painting lessons throughout the day.

Advance tickets are on sale now here.

“Cover Story: Five Decades of Comic-Con”

Over the past five decades, Comic-Con has produced a series of souvenir program books for each year’s convention. The covers of these books are a veritable who’s who of comic art. From Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, and Neal Adams to Frank Miller,

Bill Sienkiwicz, Jim Lee, and Alex Ross – with talent as diverse as Dave McKean, Moebius, Steranko, Babs Tarr, Michael Cho, and many more in between – Comic-Con’s five-decade history of celebrating comics is front and center on these covers.

Drawing from Comic-Con’s archives, the exhibition, opening Feb. 4, features art as an integral tool in promoting the organization’s mission of creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular artforms. There will also be a special exhibit on noted comic artist Rick Geary his creation of the famous Comic-Con Toucan.

Exhibit and program enhancements include: “Comic-Con Masquerade,” featuring new and former winners and entrants’ costumes from the Comic-Con Masquerade; and Makerspace Workshops, offering hands-on crafts for visitors of all ages, including new animation art drawing classes. Workshops are free with museum admission and guests can drop in from 10AM-12PM and 2PM-4PM every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The Cardboard Superheroes Workshops will also fly back into San Diego with new designs and activities on Feb. 4. Participation is free with admission, as space allows.

The best way to enjoy the museum is with a membership to experience the magic of Comic-Con year-round. Memberships include unlimited admission, special events, exclusive merchandise and more. Check out the new membership levels here, starting at $75 for an individual and $180 for a family of four.

See you there

The Comic-Con Museum reopens on Febuary 4 from 10AM to 5PM, Tuesday through Sunday, with the last entry at 4PM. Standard admission is $25 (adults ages 18-plus); children (ages 6-12) are $12; and seniors (65+), juniors (13-17) and military are $18. Family packs with 2 adults and up to 2 children are available for $60. Children 5 and under are free.

Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

Keep up to date with Comic-Con Museum and upcoming events by visiting the website here and following them on social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.

See you there, San Diego!