Build the confidence to finish the project that is biting, begging, tearing at you to be made

This is your year to reshape your comics practice with the SAW 6-month Graphic Novel Development Intensive

Starts June 2025

You Are Ready

This is your time to find the focus and tools to say, 'Yes! I am ready. I am here to bring my Graphic Novel to life.' 

The Graphic Novel Development Intensive is what you need.

Here we bring together the combined wisdom and experience of SAW instructors to provide you with inspiration, advice, critique, motivation and structured plan forward.

Through access to unique learning resources, a vibrant community and regular special events with comics professionals, you will gain insights into what it takes to realize your vision.

“SAW was pivotal in transforming me from an aspiring cartoonist to the real deal, and I could not have pursued comics professionally without the things I learned, feedback I received and community I built in the Graphic Novel Intensive.”

— Cheyenne Smith

2023 Graphic Novel Intensive Student

Make the choice. Make your book happen.

Starts June 1, 2025

Quick Course Overview

The SAW Graphic Novel Intensive is a 6-month guided exploration of the graphic novel-making process lead by professional cartoonists. Through live weekly calls, curated small peer groups, week-to-week course materials, dedicated online community and access to extra resources and events, students come out the other side with new skills to tell their story.

At a Glance

When: 6 months starting June 2025 until November 2025 - 24/7 Online with weekly live calls scheduled in the group

Where: Online via Zoom and Mighty Network community forum (link sent upon sign-up)

Who: For anyone interested in working on a single comics project

Cost: $1,249

Earlybird price $1192 until March 31.

Materials: There are no required materials in this course although instructors and students will make recommendations based on their own practice

Level: Beginner to Advanced (we do recommend some existing knowledge or experience in comics making)

What’s Included

  • Weekly live calls with large group and instructors

  • Small group mentor calls

  • Structured course materials

  • Dedicated online learning forum

  • Resource package

  • Peer community

  • Monthly Pro-Calls

  • Access to wider SAW community and resources

Together we'll work through the steps of completing a graphic novel

  • Honing in on your idea: Choosing what to work with

  • Parameters and Formats: What external specifics to aim for.

  • Story and Structure: Using tools to compel the reader.

  • Keeping Going: How to find the energy to keep going.

  • Planning the Finish: Making a plan for the upcoming weeks, months or whatever it takes!

  • Publishing and Sharing: Lots of stories about how to wrap it up for the world.

  • Reflection: Learning from what you have experienced and accomplished.

Pricing Options

  • Pay in Full

    • Single payment of $1,399

  • Pay in 6 Monthly Installments

    • 6 Payments of $249

  • SPECIAL EARLY BIRD DEAL

    • 8 payments of $149

Sign up before May 2025 for free bi-weekly small group calls with Tom, starting in April until the course starts on June 1. These are small intro calls, with discussion, critique, community building and more. Plus you save $200!

Institutional Pricing

Do you have additional resources? An institution behind you, or wealth you can share. We ask that you pay our institutional pricing: $2799

Payment Assistance

SAW is committed to ensuring everyone has access to quality comics education. If you require payment assistance, please follow THIS LINK.

Meet the Instructors and Mentors with a combined 100+ Years of Experience and 1000s of Pages of Art Between Them

Instructors

  • Tom Hart

    Tomis a champion of comics education who founded SAW in 2011 to be the comics school he never had. He has since released half a dozen graphic novels, instructional manuals and short comics, including his NY Times best selling graphic memoir, Rosalie Lightning

  • Jess Ruliffson

    Jess is an award-winning cartoonist who has lectured and taught workshops at The School of Visual Arts, The Drawing Center, and The Center for Cartoon Studies. In 2017, her work was shortlisted for Slate's Cartoonist Studio Prize. In 2022 her latest graphic novel, Invisible Wounds, was released through Fantagraphics. 

  • Elise Dietrich

    Elise is a scholar of Brazilian cultural studies who has experience both teaching and translating Portuguese. She began creating autobiographical comics in 2016 and has made hundreds of pages ofcomics, including Key West Diaries and GRANDES EXPECTATIVAS (which she workshopped in this very program).

Mentors

  • Hyena Hell

    Hyena is a cartoonist, illustrator and sometimes-printmaker. Her comics have been published by Silver Sprocket, Tinto Press, Birdcage Bottom Books, and her own imprint, Horror Vacui Press.

  • Georgia Webber

    Georgia is best known for her debut graphic memoir, Dumb: Living Without a Voice, the chronicle of her severe vocal injury and sustained vocal condition which causes her pain from using her voice. This difficult experience lead her to work as a Cranial Sacral Therapist, a meditation facilitator, and as an improvising musician, blending elements of healthcare, body awareness and creative expression within constraints. 

  • K. Woodman Maynard

    Katherine is a graphic novelist and freelance graphic designer based in Minneapolis, MN. She’s versatile in diverse range of mediums and styles.  Her graphic novel debut, The Great Gatsby was featured in The New York Times and The Guardian, and called, “hugely rewarding” by The Wall Street Journal.

Don’t just take our word for it

Testimonials from Past Students

Past Student Work

 FAQs

Pricing Options

  • Pay in Full

    • Single payment of $1,399

  • Pay in 6 Monthly Installments

    • 6 Payments of $249

  • SPECIAL EARLY BIRD DEAL

    • 8 payments of $149

Sign up before May 2025 for free bi-weekly small group calls with Tom, starting in April until the course starts on June 1. These are small intro calls, with discussion, critique, community building and more. Plus you save $200!

Institutional Pricing

Do you have additional resources? An institution behind you, or wealth you can share. We ask that you pay our institutional pricing: $2799

Payment Assistance

SAW is committed to ensuring everyone has access to quality comics education. If you require payment assistance, please follow THIS LINK.

Let’s Get Your Book Made!