I am lately confounded by the question of “who am I doing this for?”

Who will read my comic? Why am I doing this? Who am I making this for? How do I get in? How do I reach people? Does anyone care?

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The media world has changed so much in my lifetime, as maybe it has in yours. The top down world of media (pre-2000s or so) made it so that your “audience” was prescribed. You aimed towards the gatekeepers now matter how misaligned you were with them. Or you went for the margins.

Now that binary is no longer so simple. Now you just find some people and show up for them. That’s what we’ve done in the Graphic Novel program, we showed up. We cheered each other on, but mostly we noticed each other, we saw the work let us see.

We didn’t see the resistance, we didn’t see the despair, we saw the story, the light shining through the drama, we saw the life in a single drawing, we saw each other’s true self.

That’s why the images we use for the Graphic Novel Program are ancient eyes, looking out.

We’re here to see you, and we’re here to be seen.

We’re about to start another round of the Graphic Novel Development Program, it runs once a year. We’d love to have you be in it.

Thanks for being a part of the cycle.

Tom

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Special thanks to the participants of the additional SAW programs, Storytelling Vinyasa and Going in for the Snakes, winter/spring 2021. Important revelations and key moments in this book first appeared in those courses.

WANT TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR OWN COMIC CREATION?

Do you have a story inside you that’s just itching to come out, but want some guidance to help push it out?

Learn more about intensive comics learning with teachers at SAW by checking out SAW’s Year-Long Intensive Program and our Six-Month Graphic Novel Intensive.

Be sure to also check out our Online Courses, since some courses are offered year-round and are always enrolling!

Our Graphic Memoir Intensive runs year round and is always enrolling. It includes access to a vibrant working community, twice-monthly live online check-ins, weekly prompts, and access to SAW’s Monthly Pro Calls!

Our Comics Flow Group, is also year-round and always enrolling and is SAW's MOST AFFORDABLE course option with access to Monthly Pro-Calls!

And, of course, come see what we’re all up to on SAW's Mighty Network anytime!