Recently, I wrapped up on a sixth-month course offered by Sequential Artist Workshop: The Graphic Novel Intensive. I had an overall positive experience. Here are my thoughts on it.

What Did I Want the Graphic Novel Intensive to Do?
I wanted:

1. To meet other graphic novelists
2. To exchange intensive critique on projects similar to mine
3. To get the Warlock’d script to a stage where I could proceed to the art production.

Of these three things that I wanted, I met other graphic novelists and I got the Warlock’d script to a stage where I could start lettering it. Two out of three for $100/month isn’t bad.

 

What Did the Graphic Novel Intensive Do for Me?
I started the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive with a messy 4th draft of a comics script I’d been wrestling with for years, and some sample pages for what I wanted it to look like, seen here.

I ended the Graphic Novel Intensive with the following:

A completely revised and thumbnailed 330-page script. 

A curated gallery of 12 character designs for my graphic novel, Warlock’d.

These were rendered in a new, simpler style that is faster to implement. I think I could go even simpler than this, but this is where I’ve decided to try out the character designs in situ rather than fuss anymore over the lineup height chart.

An organized Trello board for tracking my past and future progress.

Of these tangible things I created, I will note that they were of my own design for my own project. I proposed and completed them within the GNI program. I wasn’t particularly inspired by anything I saw there other than I couldn’t stand the thought of using paper index cards to organize everything. I opted for Trello for ease of organization and sharing, and some students thought it was good enough to adopt for themselves. I found myself resistant to incorporate suggestions from other students (such as changing my entire workflow to accommodate different software) but it was enough to have the invisible accountability to keep the work going.

And the intangibles: ‘Permission’ to start lettering my comic, as my script was now complete. Friends to chat general, surface-level comics-making with, but not really anyone willing to go mutually in-depth on our projects. Connections and familiarity with other comics artists, published, self-published, and otherwise.

I had an overall positive and productive experience, but I think a specific type of comics artist would benefit the most from the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive. Which begs the question…

 

Who is the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive For?

To help interested creators decide if they want to go for the Graphic Novel Intensive (GNI), I will present who leads the course, what other students bring to any given cohort, ways that the MightyNetwork interface benefits some methods of work and not others, comparable and different online courses in the $500-$800 range, and the harsh truth of making comics (which is: To make comics, one must…make comics. Sorry. There’s no getting out of it.) This is mostly my own opinion based on anecdotal observations, and isn’t technical or scientific in any way.

 

Who leads the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive (GNI)?
For the most part, Tom Hart (Rosalie Lightning, and who spearheads the SAW network itself) leads it. Tom Hart is a self-taught memoirist who examines his own personal pain as he draws his panels. He balances real-world observations with abstracted characters such as floating shapes and men who can’t stop screaming in the woods. As far as I can tell, his goal is to provide an affordable learning environment for a broad swath of comics artists. He also does a pretty good job of acknowledging each individual student in the cohort and encouraging them.

I spotted the following instructors and volunteers helping out during my time in the GNI. This may be an incomplete list based on my own personal observations. It may also change from cohort to cohort:

Emma Jensen, What We Don’t Speak Of
Jess Ruliffson, Invisible Wounds
Barry Sawicki, who is studying memoir and adventure comics about the woods

 

What Do Other Students Bring to the GNI?
I’d say my cohort leaned more towards booklike comics rather than cinematic comics. Different cohorts might bring different projects to the table.

There was no curation in terms of skill level or experience. Anyone can hop into the GNI even if they’ve never written a word or drawn a picture in their life. Portfolios are not required. If a person has $600-$800 and a way to submit the payment electronically to the school, they can join the course. What each person puts into the GNI (and gets out of it) is entirely up to them. I prefer this approach since I am typically not selected for curated cohorts and prefer not to even try when it’s part of the process.

There were around 70 students in the cohort as far as I could tell. Of these 70 students, I saw about 20 people consistently update throughout the entire six months, and of these 20 people, I think about half of them visibly made comics. It’s hard for me to say who was working on things behind the scenes without posting. The apparent ~50 person attrition didn’t sit well with me but I suppose that’s what happens in large remote art classes at this price range. I also don’t know what was going on behind the scenes there. They could have been working on their projects but choosing not to interact.

I saw memoir, nonfiction, informational fiction, picture book, fantasy/adventure, horror, science fiction, wildly experimental, and reality-based fiction as projects within the GNI. The environment is geared more towards ‘just getting it out’. Target audience was not largely discussed across the cohort. Creators typically opted for subject matter that was personally appealing to themself as a reader, whether that was art therapy-as-memoir, niche subjects, personal characters made up by themselves or by their friends, or dream projects that they wanted to finally pin down.

The critique atmosphere leans towards general support and acknowledgement of finished pieces. Technical questions are only answered if they’re brought up. If a participant knows what to ask there’s a lot of information available from the cohort itself. If they don’t know what to ask or are incurious, there won’t be much technique to pick up. Technique and workflow are not explicitly laid out in what I assume is an effort to be non-didactic. This meant that everyone had completely different goals, techniques, and were on different steps of their own projects.

 

What Sort of Feedback and Visibility Does the GNI Provide?
The MightyNetworks UI dictated a lot of the interactions within the GNI itself. Users upload ‘Articles’ to a feed containing anything they want to share, whether it’s WIPs, comics, illustrations, random photos, cat pics, or whatever else they’re focusing on that isn’t comics. There was a lot of socialization and procrastination, which is honestly what people should expect from comics artists.

Creatives who create their comics one complete page at a time, or who are at a stage to complete finished pages, will have more luck soliciting feedback than creatives who work in ‘waves’ (ie script, thumbnail, layout, lettering, roughs, inks, colors) across the whole comic. It was generally easier for the community to engage with complete work and I suspect the MightyNetworks UI had something to do with this, being structured like social media. People in the cohort were reluctant to read scripts and synopses. To this end, I would have to say, the GNI didn’t help me with the part I needed the most technical help with: Writing. However, this structure seemed very beneficial to those who only wanted to post complete pages and who felt more comfortable ‘just doing it’ and not worrying about longform writing structure.

All of the things I wound up with by the end of the course ( thumbnailed script, character height reference sheet, trello board) were mini-projects I’d designed myself.

One cool thing that the GNI does is open an end-of-the-course anthology compilation. It’s a small, easy vehicle for being published and given visibility outside of the school, to people who purchase the anthology. Participants are welcome and encouraged to buy copies for themselves. Profits go back to the SAW network, if I recall correctly. 

 

Cost Comparisons
When I first saw this course open up, I definitely thought: This is either a scam…or a steal. I admit, I waffled over joining upfront. The normal lowest cost on the sliding scale, early bird discount included, was $600 for a 6-month program. Most online/independent drawing courses go for $600 for four weeks or less, although they promise intensive feedback on specific subjects and critique along with weekly meetings. Your average art MFA can cost anywhere from $20k to $40k with mixed career results, so there you go.

I thought, there must be something going on here to make this course cheaper than what I see offered by the likes of Gnomon, a university, or other industry art courses. The answer is: There isn’t much individualized (or technical) critique. I think the self-study aspect is very similar to something like Skillshare or Coursera offers, although those are different communities. The most technical critiques were geared towards print production so that everyone could get their works to print. Many of the participants in the cohort didn’t know about print concepts like DPI, bleeds, gutters, and margins and had to be caught up during the various Zoom sessions.

Is the Graphic Novel Intensive still valuable? Yes: There is an instant community of other people making graphic novels together. I would not go into this program expecting any additional challenges or accountabilities on top of just making the graphic novel. It’s a lot softer and more nebulous than that.

 

Verdicts
If you asked me, I would say that the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive is the best place to go for the following types of comics creators:

Self-directed
The sad truth is, just taking the course won’t make a graphic novel appear with your name on it. There isn’t a course out there that can do that. You still have to decide upfront what you want your project to be, and how to go about making it. You also have to write and draw the graphic novel itself. No one will do it for you or show you how to do it. There are also no technical components or anything breaking down the individual skills involved with making a graphic novel, outside of asking other creators in the course what they’re doing. There are course materials to work through but they’re very light and are mostly recordings of other artists describing their own process. To get the most out of the course’s intention (“just get a graphic novel out”), whatever you have in your creative toolkit is what you must use.

Self-publishers and Small press
While the occasional alumnus of the Sequential Arts Workshop goes on to work with large publishers, my impression of the GNI was that the prevailing attitude was ‘whatever you’re making, just make it, even if it’s for no reason’. The vibe is less about being accepted into the publishing marketplace and more about removing barriers to making whatever you want to make. For this reason, I think self-publishers and small press enthusiasts will find this course the most interesting.

Willing to Take Social Risks
There is very little hand-holding when it comes to meeting other students in the cohort. It’s up to individuals to reach out to other individuals based on mutual interests. A person who never posts and never messages other people is missing the main value that the GNI has to offer.

Page-at-a-Time
Webcomickers and diary comickers will likely feel more comfortable with the MightyNetwork’s interface in terms of reader engagement. I observed updates of this nature (complete, polished single pages or spreads) got more feedback than those who were posting WIPs such as scripts and thumbnails. This may not be intentional within the course, but it’s what happens with a social-media-like feed where some content attracts more attention than others.

 

What Would I Change About My Experience?
I consider myself mostly self-directed but wanting to share my work for specific critique on a frequent basis with trusted peers who are similar to me in terms of goals and skill level. If I were to edit the course in a way that I think would improve it for my own purposes, I would add the following aspects to it:

Small Group Critique
I signed up for this course in hopes of discussing my project (Warlock’d), introducing it to other creators, and getting six months of dedicated, nuanced feedback from a variety of peers I normally would never have met. The Zoom calls were too large to accommodate nuanced critique of individual projects. So, my suggestion would be to  have small group matching done by organizers, either in breakout sessions from the main big Zoom calls or as their own weekly event. Maybe even rotating critique groups so that no one group completely drops off or runs out of steam. More of the nuts n’ bolts discussion work could be delegated to the students, essentially.

Code of Conduct for Soliciting, Giving, and Reacting to Critique
A code of conduct describing how critique works would be really helpful for creators who haven’t shown their work to others before. It would also have allowed me to feel safe giving and soliciting critique, because I could trust the recipient had also read the same code of conduct. Even in areas of the network designed for critical feedback, I did not feel safe getting into technical details with other creators on the network. I avoided commenting in-depth for the remainder of my time in the GNI. For this same reason I neglected to connect with anyone over my complete script. The expectations surrounding critique were that unclear.

Pitch Application
A small pitch application to ensure that people have something to make (and post, when they introduce themselves!) might help future GNI cohorts. This would be judged on proof-of-intent rather than anything skill-based, as I agree with an infinitely low skill floor. The course is more fun that way.

Something to Improve Engagement and Discussion About WIPs
I don’t know what this would be, exactly, but I’d love for the environment to shine lights on the stuff that hasn’t resolved into its final comicky form. More attention and support for scripts, layouts, and thumbnails.

 

My Experience with the Graphic Novel Intensive was Good, but —
According to the things I’d have liked for the program to have included (but did not), I would feel uncomfortable recommending this course to everyone. Here are my recommendations.

 

I think this is an ideal primary program for:
Self-directed, self-publishing/small press, extroverted creatives on a budget, who do their work one page at a time, sequentially, primarily for themself as an audience, and who respond well to generalized, group-targeted encouragement.

 

I also think this is an ideal supplementary program for:
Comics artists who are simultaneously working within a more structured art school environment, such as an MFA or technical school. The SAW virtual space is good for decompressing and avoiding burnout.

 

I think this program is worth checking out for:
People who want to find other people who make and read comics, whether it’s a hobby or a more serious vocation. I think this is a useful online space for those who aren’t able to travel physically to other locations or who are otherwise isolated. The price is reasonable for what the program is, and I recommend the early bird rates if they’re offered.

 

I also think that for whomever is interested, they might want to try the free parts of the SAW network first and see who they meet: https://members.sawcomics.org/

Comics Tip

Joining a Comics Community
While cartoonists are notorious for bricking themselves into tiny cabins far away from human society, let’s not be too hasty with exiting the grid. Making a big thing like a graphic novel is hard. Hermiting up too much makes it even harder. Here are some free methods for finding friends who make and read comics.

Meetup.com
Depending on how big your city is and where it’s located, anywhere from none to many comics groups may be happening. Also look for drink n’ draws, gallery walks, urban sketch groups, illustration get-togethers, and life drawing groups. Since these groups are open to whomever, not everyone will be a best friend, but that’s what coffee shops outside of the group meetings are for!

 

Conventions
Artist Alleys are great ways to connect with other comics creators. Even small conventions can be very good. Bring a budget and buy something from each table you visit, and take business cards with you. Afterwards, check bars and who knows, you might spot a creator relaxing after a long convention day. There are far too many conventions to list here, but check major cities for the really big ones and be on the lookout for local ones in smaller towns.

 

Discords
On this chat network, comics creators can hop into voice chat or carry on conversations via text while all simultaneously casting their screens and sharing their work. I have a quick list of active discords where comics artists tend to congregate and get things done. Note: Each of these links is a Discord invitation, so be prepared to be logged in with your Discord account or asked to make one.

Graphic Novel Artists and Writers
Artist Alley Network International
Comic Creators Workgroup

 

Livestreams
Some comics artists share their screen live for accountability’s sake. It’s always fun to pop in and look over someone’s shoulder while they work. Visiting a smaller stream might just make someone’s day, too. Twitch, Picarto, and YouTube are all common streaming services with varying levels of adult content allowed.

 

Networking Quick Tips
It’s important to be aware that you’re seeking specific types of companionship from people in these groups, but that doesn’t mean you have to announce it. Collaborating with others is a lot like dating. Don’t tunnel vision. Just go with the flow and see who becomes your friend.

When following up with a person, you don’t need to be funny, outlandish, or ‘stick out’ in their memory. A brief ‘nice to meet you’ email works fine and is actually fairly rare to receive after a social outing. Invitation for coffee where you offer to pay is also very reliable for continuing the relationship. Be sure to ask the other person as many questions about their own work as possible, rather than dumping your entire 10-volume graphic novel pitch on them.

Also, if you’re strictly social climbing, people can usually tell. It’s great to be friends with other people regardless of where they’re at in terms of their career. Never forget that.

Above all, when asked or if in an environment where it’s expected, share share share! Even if you’re not feeling confident about your work, other people love to see that you’ve put in the effort. They can also watch you improve as you continue to share.

Or, if all that socialization stuff sounds too stressful…Here’s something to color all by yourself! Licensed under CC-BY-NC-3.0.