In this episode we talk about some of the most social fun one can have as a cartoonist: TABLING! Read on for tips about navigating comics conventions, zine fairs, and press expos of all seasons and sizes.

Learn about attending conventions to share your work, expand your network, have fun, and see what's out there in the world of comics.

We’re honored to have had Tessa Hulls as a guest speaker, sharing her history with comics, the process behind Feeding Ghosts, and more!

David Lasky is the creator of Boom Boom, Urban Hipster, Don’t Forget This Song, and more.

He has worked as an artist, colorist, co-writer, and teacher for many years. Lasky moved to Seattle in the early 90s, soon becoming part of a circle of young self-publishing cartoonists like Ed Brubaker, Jason Lutes, Jon Lewis, Megan Kelso, and Tom Hart. In 1993 he received a Xeric Grant to self-publish Boom Boom, which pushed the boundaries of comics, blending graphic form with history and surreal cartography. Throughout his career Lasky worked to revitalize over- and under-used comics genres and tropes with the spirit of early alternative comix. Lasky won an Eisner Award for Don’t Forget This Song, a graphic biography of The Carter Family, and has been nominated for multiple Ignatz Awards.

Eisner-nominees Jess Ruliffson and Tom Hart discuss how to pitch your book—and what to do when you get a deal! Learn about finding a literary agent and pitching to Big Five publishers; setting realistic expectations and boundaries around deadlines and money; and processing all the big feelings that come with publishing your graphic novel.

This week we talked about navigating social media to promote your work and make money as a cartoonist—from networking and building your audience, to avoiding burnout and fielding harsh feedback.

The internet can be a lovely way to connect with friends and family, make new connections, support fellow cartoonists, and publish your comics. There are great benefits to serializing a webcomic or routinely sharing your work.

But social media can also be a source of pressure, discouragement, and creative doubt.

Do you need to move to NYC and gain a million followers on Instagram to be a commercially successful artist? Do you have to work tirelessly on gaming the algorithm to get your work seen? Do you have to monetize your comics at all?

Read on (or listen in) for answers to questions like these and more!

Tom Hart is the founder of The Sequential Artists Workshop and the subject of our beta test of the 90s Mini-Comic Oral History Archives.

He is the creator of Hutch Owen, Love Looks Left, Wodaabe and many mini-comics in the 90s and after. He is also the NY Times #1 best-selling author of a graphic memoir about his daughter, Rosalie Lightning…

The Terrible Anvil: Episode 2 - Lean into the worst. In the Comics FLOW + PUBLISH group we asked around: how do you lean in when the going gets weird? What parts are EXTRA UNFUN, and how do you navigate it?

We spoke on all these topics, as well as the role of ritual and community in answering these three questions. We cooked up ideas on how to make a home there in the ruins, being okay with badly-drawn hands, what to embrace when we're working.

Jess Ruliffson and I are starting our live discussion series, The Terrible Anvil, tomorrow , Jan 11, 2024 in the Sequential Artists Workshop Flow Community and this post is an invite (you can sign up for a free 2 week trial here: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/comics-flow-group )

Thanks to Dave Ortega for speaking with SAW about his comics!

ABOUT DAVE:

"I was born in El Paso, Texas where I began my art education and discovered the passion for narrative storytelling through comics.

My self-published comic book series Días de Consuelo is about the early life of my grandmother who was born during the Mexican Revolution. Those issues were collected, edited and published as a graphic novel by Radiator Comics in March 2022. Días de Consuelo was selected by Society of Illustrators for their Illustration 65 annual…”