Original Student Success: Sally Cantirino
For those who don't know, Sally Cantirino was our original, first student. I call her Student Zero. I built the school for her!
She was a teenager in New Jersey and I taught her in the pre-college classes at SVA in NYC. She was so dedicated and great, but when college age came, SVA, her preferred school, was out of reach, which to me was nuts.
I had been thinking of starting this school anyway, and I told her she could come, for free in exchange for work study, and she did. Actually, I sorta begged her, I was like Sally, I am making this school for you and people like you. Please drop everything and dedicate yourself to comics.
And now here she is on the SIMON+ SCHUSTER webpage, thank you very much!
And here's her website full of all the stuff she's been up to.
And meditating on this for a couple more paragraphs, I want to say what Sally did.
She did the assignments, but she did them her way.
She argued with her instructors, but that was a form of listening.
And she took advantage of every tool around her at SAW, whether it was the pens, brushes, ink, and Bristol board, or our Risograph machines with the weird colors, and the goodwill around the school (and the frequent parties and art shows we would hold) and she made lots of STUFF with what she had, and made herself VISIBLE.
I saw her work through rejections and invisibility and life curveballs but she just kept making things and here she still is, more vibrant, and more her than ever before.
Yay Sally! Yay SAW!
I WANT TO MAKE AND READ MORE COMICS!
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, or SAW FLOW MEMBERSHIP, 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!