You Know You're a Graphic Memoirist When... What do you have to say? Check out this exclusive post from one of our ongoing Online Intensive programs: SAW’s Graphic Memoir Intensive (led by Instructors Tom Hart and Beth Trembley)!

Our guest this month is Sophie Yanow! Tuesday August 31, 2021 @ 2PM EST! Sophie Yanow is an Eisner-winning cartoonist, memoirist, journalist, and educator whose work focuses on memory and truth, urban planning, theories of control, the militarization of policing, and negative space. Some of her graphic novels include The Contradictions, War of Streets and Houses, and What is a Glacier? Want to tune in? Read more to see how!

An article Tom Hart shared recently in our Graphic Memoir Intensive on GRIEF and how it affects us physically, mentally, and who we are. Check it out here.

Starting September 6, SAW returns to in person programs with Comics Foundations led by Andi Santagata.

Over 12 sessions, Andi will be covering the basics of the comics-making process from thumbnailing through to inking. Based on their own interdisciplinary approach to comics storytelling, they will draw from theatre, animation and acting, to lay a solid foundation for the good ol’ comics fundamentals!

Planning in InDesign! (Tom's Thoughts)

We DO belong somewhere, but the "market" is cruel place. Very few belong there. I wouldn't recommend anyone try it, without a lot of research and planning, like wearing SCUBA gear… So, what should you focus on so you can sell your work?

PRE-ORDER! On What Matters represents some of the ambitious works developed during the online Year-Long Comics Certificate Program at the Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW) from Sept 2020 to May 2021. From responses to course exercises to deliberations on life and death and haircuts in isolation, it brings together the far reaching work of 26 different artists from around the United States and beyond.

I'm in Tom's Inner Critic course and tried my hand (and mind) at my Inner Critic interviewing me.

Have any of you tried it yet?

It was strange, but also very relieving. My inner critic is actually very easy to talk to!

I feel like thinking about these questions as if someone was actually asking me them and then answering them instead of just going straight into anxious mode helped me feel lighter. It was almost like self-therapy and it helped me detach myself from my inner critic.

Imposter syndrome, trouble drawing from my imagination, what do I have to offer, and time… does everyone deal with this?

Have you had trouble drawing hands? Hands can be hard! One of our students shared a PDF with resources that they use to help them draw hands and we’re here to share it with you!

Explore different types of narration in your comics, which styles do you tend to write in?

The Critic Asks:

“...Who do you think you are to try that, to do that, to attempt that, to show that...?

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” But the critic has no idea who you are. The critic only knows who you're not.

Our 2021 6 Month Graphic Novel Development Intensive is in its infancy but students are already diving into the material full blast and sharing themselves and their work with the SAW community. Here are just two of the talented artists in the 2021 Graphic Novel Intensive showcasing work they already contribute to the comics world.

What is your artist like? What is your WRITER like? How else are the two separate for you and what metaphors work for you?

What’s been going on at SAW lately? Check out what we’ve all been up to the last few weeks with the SAW gang, SAW courses, and the Mighty Network groups!

We have the pleasure of having cartoonists Josh Bayer and Hyena Hell doing another SLIDING-SCALE virtual punk comics workshop!

in this workshop, we go over drawing techniques, inking, some comics history, what makes YOU punk, and getting INK on that page!

Draw the critic. Have a dialogue with it. Talk to it. Pick it with pins. Visualizing the internal struggles we have usually helps (a little). You just gotta transfer your understanding and competence with finishing something you can typically finish to comics. Not your competence with the medium, just your competence with finishing.

Are you looking to sink your teeth into something new? Have you been missing dedicating a whole weekend to community and new knowledge? We’ve got just the thing for you!

Announcing our first ever live, online weekend workshops. For four weekends in July, SAW alumni will lead you through a weekend of new skills and new ideas.

Do You Ever Worry That You Won't Get it Right? Here are some thoughts from NY Bestselling Graphic Novelist and SAW Founder, Tom Hart.

Is it a comic or just words and pictures? For those wrestling with, "is my comic a comic or not?” Check this out!