Visionary Comics Workshop 2024 🐊

In late July, we gathered in-person in swampy Gainesville, FL, for a full week of COMICS-MAKING FUN at SAW!

We started with lots of activities to get us loose and warmed-up, from making jam comics and playing with our Nancy cards to doing increasingly-fast sketching and wacky four-panel prompts. We started thinking about FORM and HAND-HELD comics and the result was a bunch of fold-out mini-zines!

Two of our local faculty members, Justine Mara Anderson and Derek Ballard, also gave us insights into their processes and walked us through many of their originals. We learned a LOT about best inking practices and analog storyboarding. We’re so grateful they spoke to us!

Midway through the week, as per SAW tradition, we got out in NATURE to do some observational drawing in the wildlife of North-Central Florida! This time we went to La Chua trail, drawing herons and gators and Spanish moss galore until the heat had us fleeing for the AC once again.

We can’t forget this creepy doll head Kristyn Bat brought as part of a pass-along tradition!

We found so many of the nature drawings from La Chua delightful enough to compile them into a FLORIDA DIARY zine—here’s the result! :)

We concluded the week by working on our own comics projects and sharing the final mini-comics with each other <3 We’re looking forward to many more in-person workshops and we hope you join us for the next one!!