Begin Your Graphic Novel

SAW’s Star Instructors will help you and your cohort get your Graphic Novel Project started right.

Three Months of Guidance.

February 20 - May 1

What is your story and how do you make it into a long-form project?

If you’re ready to commit to your story, then the SAW Begin Your Graphic Novel Program is what you need.

Our mission is to keep you from waffling so that you can stop stalling, get pages made, and produce 6–8 polished sample pages you can use for yourself or for publication by June 2026.

With unique learning resources, a supportive creative community, and special events with working comics professionals, you’ll learn what it really takes to begin a graphic novel.

Our weekly calls and targeted story exercises will help you shape your narrative, build momentum, and move steadily toward seeing your project take form.

Here, you’ll benefit from the combined wisdom and expertise of SAW instructors to provide you with inspiration, advice, critique, motivation, and a structured plan to finally begin your book.

thumbnail images works in progress by Carly Shooster

“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

No More Waffling

*

Get Started!

*

No More Waffling * Get Started! *

Begin Your Graphic Novel

Starts February 20, 2026

Quick Course Overview

The SAW Begin Your Graphic Novel course is a 3-month guided exploration of the graphic novel-making process led by Carly Shooster with the help of Hyena Hell.

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.

This course is great to take before our 6-Month Graphic Novel Intensive or after for extra assistance with your project.

At a Glance

When: Feb 20, 2026 - May 1, 2026

24/7 Online in our activity community
with weekly live calls scheduled in the group

The calls will take place Fridays at 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT

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

Who: For anyone interested in working on a single, longform-ish comics project

Goal: A six-page series of sample pages for your upcoming graphic novel.

Cost: $649

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

Level: Beginner! All levels welcome.

  • 9 mini-assignments

  • 13 calls

  • 1 robust online peer community to share work

  • 2 instructors

  • 6-8 pages of finished, polished work

  • Countless resources

  • Extensive package of archived calls, PDFs, etc. curated over 12 years at SAW

  • Peer community

  • Monthly Pro-Calls

  • Access to wider SAW community and resources

  • Discount for the 6 month intensive program starting in June

What’s Included

We’ll Do it Together

Month 1

Explore image-text relationships, materials, storytelling basics, clarity, and experimentation.

Month 2

Discover your characters, story structure, and layers; confront “stuck-ness.”

Month 3

Discover the magic in your work, hone in on maintaining said magic, and dive into production and peer support.

We'll Work Through the Steps of BEGINNING Your Graphic Novel

The What of your story

The Who and Where of your story

The Why of your story

The Tools to begin

The Patience to start small

The Community of readers and learners to help you make it through

Pricing Options

Pay in Full

$649

Single Payment

Pay in Installments

$229

3 Monthly Installments

Institutional Pricing

Do you have additional resources? An institution behind you, or wealth you can share? We ask that you pay our institutional pricing: $1399

Payment Assistance

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

Don’t Just Take Our Word for it…

Testimonials from Past Students

Past Student Work

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

Instructors + Mentors

  • Carly Shooster

    Carly Shooster

    Carly Shooster (she/her) is a Jewish-American cartoonist based in Gainesville, Florida. She graduated from the California College of Arts (CCA) with an MFA in Comics in 2022 and has since been working on her debut Graphic Novel, Mamita, to be published by Fieldmouse Press in Fall 2027. Carly teaches kids and adult comics programs online and in the SAW studio and around Alachua County.

  • 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.

  • 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

 FAQs

Pricing Options

Pay in Full

$649

Single Payment

Pay in Installments

$229

3 Monthly Installments

Institutional Pricing

Do you have additional resources? An institution behind you, or wealth you can share? We ask that you pay our institutional pricing: $1399

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 Kickstart Your Story!