SAW Micro-grant winners, Sept 2013

We want to thank all the cartoonists, young and old, north and south, who submitted to the SAW Micro-grant this 3rd round, Sept 2013. The SAW Micro-grant was begun from an awareness that artists need to look everywhere to find the support and money they need to keep going. We wish we had more to offer, but so long as we have this micro-amount, we want it to help artists who are courageously plowing through whatever artistic stage they're at.

We received a lot of submissions, and want to congratulate our two winners, decided upon by our five judges. Each will receive a check for $250 from SAW for their projects.

Andrew White  - "Black Pillars" http://whitecomics.bigcartel.com/product/black-pillars-issue-one

Andrew White is a young cartoonist who has published one book with Retrofit and is currently serializing and self-publishing The Black Pillars, a strange speculative fiction involving a town (country?) and the sudden emergence of enormous pillars that rise to the sky. White is exploring characters and place in this intriguing comic series. The SAW Micro-grant will assist him in publishing issue 2.

Glynnis Fawkes - "Alatiel" http://glynnisfawkes.com/2013/01/10/decameron-day-two-tale-seven/ http://locatingboccaccio.wordpress.com/glynnis-fawkes/

Alatiel is a book using comics and paintings to tell "The Tale of Alatiel" from Boccaccio's Decameron. A prototype exists  with type in many places, which are currently being replaced with comics done in brown ink and watercolor, referring to medieval manuscripts in style.

Glynnis has a long history in comics, which can be seen at her home page, which include autobiographical comics from Vermont and the Middle East, and a deep obsession with Greece and Greek history. She brings a historian's craft and tireless passion to the artform, working outside current trends. We're pleased to assist her on this project.

Runners-Up 

Krystal Difronzo  - Saints' Love  www.toothandnail.tumblr.com/search/saint's+love/  www.krystaldifronzo.com 

A boy and his childhood obsessions and how they are a precursor to adult sexual behaviors. he is obsessed with saints he finds in books.

At least one of our reviewers was head over heels with Difronzo's drawings. We're eager to see more of this project as it develops.

Nasha Ashjaee - Three Things  nushaashjaee.tumblr.com

And least one of our reviewers was overwhelmingly compelled by Ashajee's detailed, lushly drawn memories about her family and The Qu'ran.

Sophia Wiedeman- The Lettuce Girl Vol 4 http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0/lettuce_girl/  www.sophiadraws.com

Wiedeman's The Lettuce Girl is a charming, explorative fairytale comic about mothers and daughters. Three issues in, with a fourth and final on the way, we're eager to see the finished book.

Honorable Mentions 

Anthony Meloro - "Funnies"

http://anthonymeloro.com/Funnies http://anthonymeloro.tumblr.com/post/59536662004/thisll-be-ready-for-spx "Funnies combines abstract patterns with blithe, one page vignettes on love and loss...reflects a new focus on panels and sequential storytelling while retaining the freedom of  ink and brush drawing style"

Tyler Luetkehans - Watermellonworld watermellonworld.tumblr.com An on-going poetry/calligraphy/writing project, which is ambitious, if only for its lack of images.

Jarod Rosello - "The Well-Dressed Bear Will (Never) Be Found" http://www.jarodrosello.com/comics

The Well-Dressed Bear needs to adopt a human identity to avoid white-gloved agents who aren't fond of a bear living amongst humans. "Tries to negotiate a life on the border between human and bear, exploring the space between identity and alterity".

Nate McDonough - "Don't Come Back", "Grixly" madefuncomic.tumblr.com grixly.com Nate uses a dense, line-heavy style to tell this odd and interesting story about personalities moving through realities.

Annie Murphy - I Never Promised You a Rose Garden http://www.flickr.com/photos/100875195@N07/sets/72157635297551696/ http://ghostcatcomics.blogspot.com/ From lore to myth to personal history to genuine history about Portland, OR

Kelly Froh - Walking Up Hill http://cargocollective.com/kefroh/Walking-Up-Hill http://kellyfroh.blogspot.com/2013/02/walking-up-hill.html "A story of friendship, freedom, and grunge - a comic performance and upcoming graphic novel"

Meghan Turbitt www.redheadedgeisha.com meghanturbitt.tumblr.com Turbitt has an off-kilter sense of humor, exploring similar single panel and sequential material similar to Lauren Weinstein and cartoonists in that lineage through B. Kliban, M.K. Brown, etc. 

To our applicants not listed above, thank you for submitting, and please understand that a committee like this is full of personalities, with biases and inclinations that might not be in tune with your own. As we said last round, know that if you follow your and honor your muse, if you are open and generous to your work and revolutionary in your observations, then you are bettering the world and we support that. Know too that it's also possible we just didn’t understand your package or that it was at present too minimal (some submissions were extremely minimal and our judges weren't capable of seeing the intent yet), or that we are just a bunch of jerks. Thank you and be brave moving forward.

Our next round will be April 15, 2014 (with a March 15 deadline.) Stay tuned on twitter @comicsworkshop, FB or our blog.