A HUGE thank you to our business sponsors for PANEL PALOOZA 2025: Diane Shooster Keller Williams, West Law Firm, & The Lynx Books.

A Creative Space for Young Artists!

Do you have a teen who loves comics? Whether they’re just getting started or already deep into creating their own stories, Comics for Teens is the perfect place for them to develop their skills, meet fellow young artists, and have fun!

This ongoing group is designed for teens ages 11-16 who want to practice comics regularly in a supportive environment. Each session offers a chance to learn, create, and share their work while receiving guidance from experienced instructors.

We're so excited to have cartoonist, Jamar Nicholas, leading our next PRO-CALL!

Artist of Leon the Extraordinary, Leon: Worst Friends Forever, Leon: Protector of the Playground, and more! Find out how to join in!

We had a marvelous live Graphic Medicine reading February 2025. Five stories, six readers. Multiple looks into the difficulties of communication and resolution in frontline healthcare. Check out the replay, here.

For the next two weeks, SAW is launching a fundraiser in light of 2024 grant funding being vetoed by the Florida legislation.

At SAW, we stand with those who have put their lives on the line for generations to fight for equal rights, equal footing, equal safety, and equal expression. We want to use our platform to amplify Black comics artists from the past and present who make innovative, joyful, reflective comics that are changing the world. 

Please join us for a comics reading and panel discussion from the frontlines of medicine, featuring stories by caregivers and patients. Panelists include Michael Green, Mahour Pourghadim (@mahour_rain), Rachel Casas, Jess Ruliffson, and more!

https://www.graphicmedicine.org/

https://frontlinecomicsproject.org/

Cara Bean, whose latest book, Here I Am, I Am Me, is a masterpiece of cartooning. In this single-session workshop, Cara will give a show of samples from that book, then she'll create some demonstrations and exercises based on your discussion! Sign up to get involved in this interactive workshop with a cartooning great! 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST

State Governor axed ALL STATE ARTS FUNDING in 2024 and 2025. What does it mean for Florida and SAW?

Lately, I’ve been thinking that to some degree, especially in the Graphic Memoir / Medicine genre, we are seeing our storytelling return to the function of Rite and Ritual. (Note, I’m accidentally using rites and rituals a little interchangeably, though as I understand it, technically a ritual exists within the larger rite.)

MAKING COMICS ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE, OR WANT TO LIVE.

We’re digging around in the vast SAW Friday Night Comics archives (three years now, over 150 workshops) and are noticing some trends. Lots of music, lots of memoir, lots of monsters and animals, and lots of graphic medicine.

For 2025, we hear a lot of people talking LOCAL. Local community, local help, local awareness.

Here are three comics workshops about PLACE.

Comics Working Group with Carly Shooster Winter 2025 with Sequential Artists Workshop

Monday, January 13th, 2025 at 6:30 PM EST

This accountability group is a one-a-week meeting for Gainesville locals to bring whatever long term, short term, or anywhere-in-between project.

SAW x Alachua County Library Workshops

Join us for our next Pro-Call with the incredible Bishakh Som, creator of Apsara Engine and Spellbound. During this call, Som will share insights into her groundbreaking body of work, past and present—including a glimpse of her forthcoming fiction release with Abrams/Surely.

Hurricane Helene devastated communities across Western North Carolina in September 2024. The storm dealt a unique blow to creative communities of the area, as many studios in the River Arts District of Asheville and the nearby town of Marshall were completely destroyed. While the news cycle has moved on, the process of recovering and rebuilding will continue for years. 

The purpose of this anthology is to highlight the work of artists impacted by Helene, to raise both awareness about the continued impact of the storm and funds to rebuild the artistic infrastructure of Asheville and Marshall. We are looking for work by local artists of WNC and their personal stories related to the disaster. 

We hope by uplifting these stories we can give artists a space to process their experiences, keep people thinking of and donating to WNC as the immediacy of the disaster fades, and help the creative community rebuild. 

100% of proceeds from this anthology will be split in half to go directly to the following funds:

River Arts District Relief Fund

Marshall Relief Fund

Submissions may include: comics, illustrations, prose writing, poetry, photography, and hybrid forms. 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6nZBKexfhvv7_IA_0Jl2y6Y-EcIj5rm8&feature=shared