ABOUT US
For more than XX years, Arts & Fashion Institute has been inspired by the transformative potential of art.
Today, the school’s groundbreaking academic programs carry forward that mission, making AFI a leader in Bucks County arts education. Our programs deliver a uniquely interdisciplinary education enriched by the resources of New York City and Philidelphia. Our instrucers assist each student in the development of their own individual voice & vision while training them with the highest & most competitive artistic & aesthetic standards.
WHAT SETS US APART?
01
EXCEPTIONAL TEAM OF EXPERTS
Our instructors are top, award winning artists with continuing industry experience, featured internationally in the press.
02
SMALL CLASSES WITH PERSONLIZED INSTRUCTION
We keep our classes small and offer the option of private education in order to deliver effective instruction in a comfortable learning environment.
03
PROVEN RESULTS
Many of our students have progressed to successful careers in the arts.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
SCOTT HANNA
SEQUENTIAL ART, INKING & PAINTING
Instructor of fine art drawing, heroic figure drawing, inking with croquill & brush, human & animal anatomy, sequential art & cartooning, watercolor/acrylic/pastel painting, Scott Hanna is a busy professional artist & top inker in the graphic novel industry. His drawing & inking work appears monthly in print for a number of superhero graphic novels and comics. One of the most prolific artists in the field, Mr. Hanna has inked well over 200 graphic novels for the top two publishers in the industry, or approximately 24,000 pages of graphic art.
At Marvel Comics, Scott’s worked on all the top characters at the company, including the Avengers, Spider-Man, IronMan, the X-Men, Wolverine, Avengers vs. X-Men and the Hulk. He’s drawn Spider-man for fifteen years, working on almost every title starring the wall-crawler. At DC Comics, he worked on many of their major titles, including Superman, Justice League, Green Lantern Corps and Suicide Squad and most notably a five year run on Detective Comics starring Batman.
Scott Hanna is a third generation artist. His grandfather did manuscript and book illumination and his mother, Annette Hanna, is an award winning portrait and landscape artist. Scott majored in illustration at Pratt Institute in NYC.
With guest appearances on national and local television, radio, museums, historical societies, libraries, the internet and national and international comic book conventions, Scott has made a name as an accomplished lecturer. He authored an article on the “inking process’ for Wizard magazine and taught sequential art at several local colleges and private art schools before co-founding the Arts and Fashion Institute™ in Bucks County, Eastern Pennsylvania.
Scott Hanna is a third generation artist. His grandfather did manuscript and book illumination and his mother, Annette Hanna, is an award winning portrait and landscape artist. Scott majored in illustration at Pratt Institute in NYC.
I believe every student must strive to put visual variety, excitement, focus & energy into their art and learn strong fundamentals, such as anatomy, lighting, composition & draftsmanship in order to develop their own unique styles. Art is a lifelong pursuit with perpetual growth & sharing.
- SCOTT HANNA
Marvel Entertainment Group Intʼl - Marvel Comics, NYC 1992 to present Illustrator & inker on graphic novels & monthly comic books: Spiderman, X-Men, IronMan, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, DareDevil, Ghost Rider, Captain America, Wolverine, Punisher. Inker on limited edition Hollywood movie tie-ins/merchandising.
ABC-TVʼs “Castle” graphic novel for season 3 finale & season 4 premiere & season 6/7.
Time/Warner Entertainment - DC Comics, NYC 1988 to present Illustrator & inker on graphic novels & monthly comic books including Batman, Legends of the Dark Knight, Shadow of the Bat, Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman & Robin, Robin, Detective Comics, The Outsiders, Teen Titans, etc. Inker on limited edition Batman movie tie-ins & merchandising.
TV Guide Inker on Spiderman magazine cover, issue for week of April 27-May 3, 2002
Wizard Magazine (national magazine for movie, comic & toy trades) 2003 Wrote & illustrated article on methods & stages in graphic novel visual story telling.
CLIENT LIST
Regular guest appearances on WFMZ-TV
WLVT-TV PBS 39 News Tonight - art feature in Arts and Culture segment
Turner Classic Movies network - Host interview on "The Third Man"
Comcast Headline News Interview on Michener exhibit - “Art of the Graphic Novel”, 2010
“Geeks With Issues” (cable TV program) Guest speaker on talk show - Berkshire, MA
2009 Home Shopping Club Spokesperson/guest artist for comic book sales - 1995
QVC Network Spokesperson/guest artist for comic book memorabilia sales - 1993-4
NY1 News (NYCʼs 24 hr news) Featured interview on Batman storyline “Knightfall” 1993
Also many podcasts, youtube interviews & dozens of local news stories.
TV APPEARANCES
“Inkwell” awards: 2018
Favorite Inker, 2018
Most Adaptable Inker, 2017
Favorite Inker, 2017
Props Award, 2012
Most Adaptable Inker, 2012
Props Award, 2011
Favorite Inker, 2011
Most Adaptable Inker, 2010
Most Adaptable Inker, Wizard Magazineʼs Wizard Fan award: 2004
Best Inker, Eisner award: 2002
Best Serialized Story
INDUSTRY AWARDS
Arts and Fashion Institute™-All fine art classes in Drawing, Painting, Anatomy, Sequential Art, and Cartooning. 2012-present
Baum School of Art/Lehigh Carbon CC - Figure Drawing & Sequential Art classes. 2010-11
Allentown Art Museum - sequential art, visual story telling, illustration. 2007, 2010
Michener Museum of Art Doylestown - Taught college & HS instructors how to use graphic novel format to inspire students. 2010
Bucks County Library System - sequential art & visual story-telling. 2017, 2012, 2010, 2006
Michener Museum of Art Doylestown - sequential art, visual story telling, illustration, animation. 2016, 2014, 2006.
Bucks County Community College - Taught sequential art. 2002
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
PRATT INSTITUTE - 1980-84 for BFA in Communication Design & Illustration - studied under renowned illustrator Barron Storrey (now teaching at Art Center in CA)
Carl Lundgren - illustrator of sci-fi/fantasy covers (now w/Rock&Roll Hall of Fame) 1983-4
Rick Bryant - fine art illustrator & comic artist 1985
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL
APPRENTICESHIPS
PAMELA PTAK
FASHION DRAPING, PATTERN MAKING, HAUTE COUTURE TECHNIQUES, FASHION PORTFOLIO, CREATIVE SEWING
Pamela Ptak is the owner/designer of the Ready-To-Wear fashion line “Pamela Ptak.”, which creates ladies dresses & separates with intriguing and unusual lines, textures & motifs. She also designs custom couture gowns with architectural forms under the label “Ptak Couture™”. See also www.pamelaptak.com
To understand Pamela Ptak's level of design skill, knowledge, enthusiasm & professionalism, simply turn to the fashion experts & writers who have given her work their public critique.
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During a taped interview for the Lifetime television program "Project Runway" celebrated mentor Tim Gunn told Pamela Ptak "These are among the most beautifully constructed clothes I've ever seen." and followed with "I think you are on the cusp of something big."
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From writer Jennifer Smith Tapp..."Bucks County resident and couturier Pamela Ptak is in the business of making wedding and holiday-in-Capri fantasies come true." and "More proof that the stars in the fashion galaxy do not all shine in New York City or Paris.”
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And Kathryn Clark writes...“Bucks County couturier Pamela Ptak lives, breathes, loves and creates high fashion…An ocean away from Paris, she nevertheless designs clothing in the tradition of Haute Couture, using the old French methods for draping and handwork."
Pamela Ptak received her bachelors degree in Art & Design from Pratt Institute and did further studies in fashion design and pattern making at the French founded Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking & Design and at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City...a delightful 8 years of higher education.
Pamela has worked as a pattern maker, draper & sample maker for NYC fashion designers on collections for their NYC RTW shows as well as Paris Haute Couture collections. (See list below.) She currently works freelance for several NYC designers doing conceptual work, design, sample making and helping them set their factory standards for design & construction.
She’s a frequent lecturer on design & creativity across the US, co-founder of the Arts and Fashion Institute™ www.ArtsandFashionInstitute.com , a fashion study program initiated in 2003 to inspire and advance the skills of fashion design professionals, fashion college grads and fine sewing enthusiasts which now includes instruction in fine arts and sequential arts. She is the author of “Fashion Portfolios 101: Presentation Techniques for Independent Designers & Dressmakers” (Glass Lane Press, 2003) (available through her studio) which she wrote to assist home sewers wishing to establish their own home-based fashion design businesses.
Her fashion illustrations have been included in exhibitions & exhibit catalogs at Le Musee des Arts Asiatique in Nice, France, at the Puck Gallery in NYC and on the ABC-TV program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. Her work & studio were featured on Lifetime TV when she was a fashion designer on Project Runway Season 7. Her studio was featured on WLVT-TV’s PBS program Tempo and she has been profiled on WWW.VIVMAG.COM, WWW.SOCOMAGAZINE.COM, featured in print in the Feb/March 2010 issue of Soco Magazine and the Fall Couture Fashion issue of Bucks magazine. Her garments have graced the cover & cover stories in several annual couture issues of Stitches Magazine from 2012 and on. Her newspaper write-ups are too numerous to list, but you may read a small selection on the press page at www.pamelaptak.com
My goal is to assist each student in the development of their own individual voice & vision while training them with the highest & most competitive artistic & aesthetic standards. To present every conceivable technique which students can utilize in their personal design. To empower them to find the greatness within them.
- Pamela Ptak
BFA Pratt Institute, NYC (w/high honors)
Fashion Institute of Technology (4.0)
Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking & Design
EDUCATION
Arts and Fashion Institute™ - Fashion Draping, Pattern Making, Fashion Illustration, Creative Sewing, Couture Corseted Evening Wear, Haute Couture Textures, and her own Radical Free Draping™ and Radical Pattern Design
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA – Designed & taught Couture Corseted Evening Wear classes for the Graduate Program, trained my replacement instructors. Designed/taught lingerie specialization.
LCCC/Baum School of Art – Fashion Draping, Pattern Making, Illustration
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
“Pamela Ptak” and “Ptak Couture”, 1994 – Present, women’s RTW and couture line
curvy women's knitwear line 2017-18 – pattern maker/sample maker
brand launch in NYC 2017-18 – designer/pattern maker/sample maker for new product
High end RTW brand & factory in NYC 2016-17 – freelance consultant
Shelley Steffee, NYC Spring 2007, – custom draper & patternmaker for F/W collection
Chado Ralph Rucci, NYC - Feb. 2003 – 2006, seasonal freelance sewing/embellishing on both his NYC Ready-to-Wear and Paris Haute Couture collections
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
The Baltimore Sewing Examiner, Friday, Feb. 4, 2010 by Wendy Kaufman
Interview with "Project Runway" season 7 designer Pamela Ptak
PRESS