Hi (Part One)

Hiya!

Thanks for being here. Tom asked me to write something about how I came to SAW and it’s hard to know where to start.

My name’s Emma, I studied a masters of writing, editing and publishing and was working in publishing and community arts, making comics on the side when I found out about SAW. I moved to Gainesville from Australia in August 2018 for the SAW year-long intensive. Despite a rocky start, not quite knowing what I’d got myself into, and being busy reading, drawing, redrawing, learning to ink, practicing my figure drawing, workshopping ideas, compiling my work… I kind of fell in love with the mix,

·       the community of comics makers (I’d been surrounded by artists before, but never a whole room full of people thinking/making/loving the same thing I do);

·       the library of comics (I’m still determined to make my way through but I’m stuck on the comics artist names I already know);

·       the town itself (all the trees, the southern affection for Publix, and the easy biking distance between everything);

·       and the thing no one told me before I got here: Florida is more than it’s Florida-man reputation.  

How could you not fall in love with swimming every day, visiting the springs on the weekend, biking the Hawthorne, walking around Sweet Water and eating your way through Gainesville’s restaurants?

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