Sowing, reaping, and resting in our art. A post by Jess Ruliffson.

I like to think that we can TRAIN the inner critc, first to become a NOTICER, and then, a SUGGESTER.

The Critic likes to ask, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

But the critic has no idea who you are. The critic only knows who you're not. 

We had such a productive week from our last in-person Visiting Artist Workshop led by award-winning cartoonist, Tommi Parrish @tommi_pg (and their dog, Cool Dog)! Here are only a few photos taken from the week demonstrating how Tommi created an atmosphere of looseness and play while having students work on a combination of book making, playing with different DIY printing techniques, painting with gouache, and more! Tommi finished the week off by giving an artist talk over at local, indie bookstore, Third House Books.

Starting October 7th, our regular Draw Jam on the first Saturday of the month will instead be a two day event for 24 hour comics day!

Mid-October, we are thrilled to have award-winning cartoonist, Tommi Parrish (@tommi_pg) lead a week-long Visiting Artist Workshop in the SAW Studio; our usual monthly Drink and Draw on October 19th at Boxcar hosted by SAW alums, Amy @sunshineblossoms and Elli @s0ftpillow; and a free artist talk with Tommi Parish at Third House Books @thirdhousebooks starting at 7:30PM on October 20th…

This fall we're bringing you some new and returning online classes from now through until December including Bootleggers Guide to Story Jess Ruliffson, Build Your Own Labyrinth with Matt Madden, Story Structure Basics and How to Use Them with Beth Trembley, and more!

Upcoming IN-PERSON events for September 2023! Kicking off September, SAW alums host a FREE in-person Draw Jam on Sept. 2 in the SAW Studio (and on the first Saturday of every month)! Mid-September we have an in-person course with M.S. Harkness, a FREE Live Comics Reading, and a FREE Drink + Draw Jam @drinkndrawgnv. And starting at the end of September, teens can join us in the SAW Studio for 10 weeks of intensive comics-making for our Fall Open Studio with Carly Shooster @hunger_eating_munch!

Are you interested in finding out more about our 2023-2024 Comics Certificate Course? Join us on Zoom, Monday August 28 @ 2 PM EDT, for our SAW Certificate Course Live Q+A!

Taking the chance to celebrate SAW online Alum, Angeli Rafer! The middle grade book she drew, 'Ghosts Don’t Eat Potato Chips came out this week withScholastic! Woo! Don't forget to let us know about your comics wins in the big, bad world outside the network! We want to hear about it!

THIS WEEK, we will feature 8 recent graduates from our year-long certificate program reading the final stories.

Join Kelcey Ervick, author/artist of The Keeper, as she guides us through making graphic poetry and collage narratives! Starts July 17, 2023

Catch the replay of our most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop: Having Fun with Self-Mythology with Ellen O’Grady! We hope you've been having a good time enjoying this creative community full of art-making! 

How do you get by using color when you don't feel you know anything about color? Feel confident in choosing colors for your comics with our Bootleggers Guide to Color with cartoonist and Eisner Nominee, Jess Ruliffson!

Starts June 21, 2023, Sign up link in bio or go to --> learn.sawcomics.org

Enhance the meaning and drama of your storytelling. Only a couple spots left!

Replay Video of Unexpected Fiction workshop with MJ Robinson!

Replay of Having Fun with Lying with Fionn McCabe If you've missed the most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop , check out the replay and draw in your own time! 

We hope you've been having a good time enjoying this creative community full of art-making! 

Check out the replay!

Catch the replay of our most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop! We had an amazing time with the brilliant Alabaster Pizzo, artist of Prayer to St Terese, and Mimi and the Wolves. She had us drawing from google maps, searching for places we wished to travel - interiors and exteriors, and making our comics there. We went deep and had fun, like most Friday Night Workshops. We hope you've been having a good time enjoying this creative community full of art-making! 

If you missed our most recent *WE BELIEVE IN COMICS* Friday Night Workshop, catch the replay below! 

"We had an amazing time with November Garcia who had us writing out our problems, but drawing the opposite expressions.  Very therapeutic! We went deep, had fun, dealt with some real woes. Thanks to Ms. Garcia for helping us work this stuff out!"

Catch the replay of our most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop with Will Betke-Brunswick! We had a fantastic time with Will, who had us drawing birds, and having us reaching our goals with our little bird characters. It was so much fun, what a delightful time. Come join us for the replay or the next workshop! 

Catch the replay of our most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop with Sarah Mirk! We first explored a 10 minute drawing challenge—in the top quarter of the page, draw a full body portrait of yourself as a teen wearing one of those significant clothing items. You can draw simple (you can be a blob)! Then, we tried to incorporate some details that help visually tell the story of who we were—Maybe label the important clothing item, tell us what it is and when and where you got it. What would you carry around as a teen?

Catch the replay of our most recent Friday Night Comics Workshop with Sarah Maloney @maloneydoodles! We explored CREATING PLACE in our comics where we were asked to draw some shoes and then to consider where those pair of shoes would take us. We hope you've been having a good time enjoying this creative community full of art-making!

We had a great time with Tom Motley from SVA who brought us through DAREDOODLES, some inventive ways to make characters and comics!