Sequential Artists Workshop

In episode seven of Comics Karma, Tom and Lauren talk to Kayte Young who spent a year on an 18 page comic, and is wondering, if this piece took so long, how am I ever going to finish my book?

This episode went deep, as Lauren described “un-fact-checking” with her old friends, and what it’s like to time travel as you make a memoir. We agreed Kayte needed new energy, new ready-for-it, excited-to-be-working energy, and she’s got it.

Give it a listen !

In episode six of Comics Karma, Tom and Lauren talk to Emil Wilson, who knows something is pretty good, maybe good enough, but wants to know at what point it's FINISHED. What’s holding him back from calling it done? “Is it perfectionism?” He asks. “Is it control? It it connected to who I am and wanting to present the best version of myself? Is it me ‘not wanting to let go?’ "

Lauren, calling in from Ireland where she is secretly spying on her old high school friends, gives great advice as always, and Tom tells a story about how he felt after finishing his grief memoir, a story he’s never shared with anyone.

In episode five of Comics Karma, Tom Hart and Lauren Weinstein are talking about comics and addressing students’ questions directly.

Tom and Lauren talk to Jeannie Mecorney, who is telling a story of a troubled childhood, but she also caused trouble for her children as a result. How do you tell this story?

Lauren as always, gives great advice, about drawing some work with no intention of showing it to anyone, and Tom recommends a couple approaches to bringing the children into the process.

Give it a listen and come back for more.

We’ll be answering a different student each week for 1 or maybe 2 more weeks! Recorded at SAW on Zoom

Thanks for listening!

Episode 4 - I'm making a Frankenstein's monster of identity and memory. How do I do it?! With guest SAW member Dusty McGowan!

In episode four of Comics Karma, Tom and Lauren talk about to Dusty McGowan, a genuine therapist! -who is having a crisis of identity.

Dusty is doing a comic about a toy he remembers from his childhood but seems to be a figment of his imagination. Or is it? Is this a story about a toy or about identity or what? We get into it, giving therapy to the therapist!

Lauren as always, is an expert in this stuff and gives her really good advice. Give it a listen and come back for more. We’ll be answering a different student each week for 2 more weeks!

Recorded at SAW on Zoom

Thanks for listening!

As always, you can participate live, by joining us in the COMICS FLOW + PUBLISH section of SAW Comics, or just visit us at sawcomics.org

In episode three of the newly christened Comics Karma, with Tom Hart and Lauren Weinstein are talking about comics and addressing students’ questions directly.

Tom and Lauren talk about their own work, and in the case of Lauren - a project that has taken more than 20 years, and then they welcome Lynn Bernstein, who has been doing a fascinating memoir about series of events in her marriage over 30 years ago. Lynn wants to know how to not feel the awful feelings she was feeling then, while revisiting these moments in her memoir. She also doesn’t want to out particular players in the story; she wants to know how to avoid these things.

Luckily, Lauren is an expert in this stuff and gives her really good advice. Tom just stands by waiting to bad mouth an old friend. (Joke! We love you Ed!)

Give it a listen and come back for more. We’ll be answering a different student each week for 3 more weeks!

Thanks for listening!

As always, you can participate live, by joining us in the COMICS FLOW + PUBLISH section of SAW Comics, or just visit us at sawcomics.org

In episode two of the newly christened Comics Karma, with Tom Hart and Lauren Weinstein are talking about comics and addressing students’ questions directly.

Tom and Lauren talk about their own work, and in the case of Lauren - a project that has taken more than 20 years, and then they welcome Sally Charette, who has been working on a long story about her long-lived parrot, Dodger, but she has other ideas too.

We talk about all of these things. We talked about life, death, politics, loss and rowing and crew! Lauren gave us the metaphor of the Coxswain who is in charge of the rowing crew. We all need a coxswain!

Lauren also guided us through her 5 questions about whether it’s worth it to do a side project.

* Is it interesting work? (Will I learn something new, is it related to what I MOST want to do?)

* How much TIME will it take? Be honest.

* Who will see it?

* How much does it pay?

* How much will it take away from my big project ?

Tom said stuff too!

Give it a listen and come back for more. We’ll be answering a different student each week for 4 more weeks!

Thanks for listening!

As always, you can participate live, by joining us in the COMICS FLOW + PUBLISH section of SAW Comics, or just visit us at sawcomics.org

While the Terrible Anvil takes a break, Tom Hart and Lauren Weinstein are taking the reins to talk about comics for a few weeks, and to address students’ questions directly.

Tom and Lauren talk about their own work, and in the case of Lauren - a project that has taken more than 20 years, and then they welcome Brandon Hankins, whose webcomic Autumn Wing is delightful, fun and sincere. We love it.

Brandon wants to know how to define success, how to keep going, how to know if it’s right to want validation, and how to finds an editor who won’t chop out the heart of his story. We talk about all of these things. We talked about sentiment, nature and silence in comics too.

Give it a listen and come back for more. We’ll be answering a different student each week for 6 weeks!

Thanks for listening

As always, you can participate live, by joining us in the COMICS FLOW + PUBLISH section of SAW Comics, or just visit us at sawcomics.org

Our very last episode of The Terrible Anvil (Season One) was recorded this week! With Tom and Jess together in the same room!

We tried to tie a bow around the business of comics by offering ideas on HOW TO KEEP GOING (FOREVER), AKA making your own sustainable comics practice amidst inner/outer turmoil and also remembering to wash the dishes.

A big takeaway from this episode: CELEBRATE SMALL WINS!

Other thoughts from the call:

* Forming bonds with others and keeping each other going is a great form of sustainable accountability

* DEADLINES also keep us going - we can't forget the TERRIBLE ANVIL!

* You can have accountability buddies in near strangers too, like SAW's organically-formed online meeting spaces

* Body doubling is a great hack!

* Wanting to impress your friends can be a great motivator too (you don’t have to impress the whole world!)

There's more from this final episode, so check it out—and catch up on any others you've missed!

And don't worry, this isn't goodbye. It's see you later! Stay tuned for a sequel season of The Terrible Anvil podcast!

In the meantime, consider joining the SAW FLOW + PUBLISH member group, where you'll get access to a supportive community and expert guidance on getting your comics published! Sign up here: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/comics-flow-group

As always, happy making!!

💬 DONATIONS SAW Comics is a 501C-3 non-profit and we thrive on your support and donations to keep arts education accessible! You can support us on: ➡️ Patreon:   / sawcomics  ➡️ PayPal: https://learn.sawcomics.org/pages/donate➡️ Or become a sustaining donor: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/s...

Thank you for being here!

Last week we recorded the penultimate episode of The Terrible Anvil, this time discussing scripts, dialogue, and writing for comics!

Art (slightly adapted) from Jess Ruliffson!

The words we use and how they are arranged on the page can guide readers' understanding of our comics and influence how they feel about a story and its characters. But how do you pick the right words? How much is too much dialogue? How can you make sure readers understand your text the way you intend?

Tune in for answers to these questions and more from Jess and Tom!

Some quick tips:

* If you've got a lot of dialogue from one speaker, break up the text into multiple balloons to give readers space to digest what they're saying

* Read your dialogue out loud to make sure it sounds natural

* Try not to repeat information that the images are already conveying, unless the text is there to clarify what's happening in the visuals—if your drawing is lousy, a good caption will help the reader 'believe' the story!

There's even more on the call, so give it a listen! And join us on Friday for the FINAL EPISODE!!!!

You can watch the call live by joining the SAW FLOW + PUBLISH member group, where you'll also get access to a supportive community and expert guidance on getting your comics published!

Sign up here: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/comics-flow-group

See you for the finale!

💬 DONATIONS SAW Comics is a 501C-3 non-profit and we thrive on your support and donations to keep arts education accessible! You can support us on: ➡️ Patreon:   / sawcomics  ➡️ PayPal: https://learn.sawcomics.org/pages/donate➡️ Or become a sustaining donor: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/s...

Thank you for being here!

This week on the Terrible Anvil, we parsed one of Jess's favorite topics: COLOR!!

(Watercolor illustration by Jess!)

Here's a quick look at our tips for approaching color (in comics or otherwise) as a newbie:

* Pick just one color at first, especially if working in a new medium/with new tools. If that's not interesting, try two colors, maybe three. By using limited color palettes you will gain confidence and figure out what works with color!

* Are you color confused? Color curious? When in doubt, think about CONTRAST! Jess's hot take: if something is the 'right' value, it doesn't really matter what color it is.

* Err on the side of a lighter color: reading the lines and artwork/what is happening in the panel is more important than the color itself.

* Start with an "anchor" color: if something NEEDS to be a certain color (nursing scrubs in Jess's hospital comics are seal blue, for example) start there. Then each choice after that informs the rest of the palette.

* Steal a palette from a comic you love!

There's more to love and learn in the full episode, so give it a listen!

Aaaand join us next week for our next (penultimate??) episode, where we'll talk all about DIALOGUE! (and scripting and writing comics!)

You can watch the call live by joining the SAW FLOW + PUBLISH member group, where you'll also get access to a supportive community and expert guidance on getting your comics published! Sign up here: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/comics-flow-group

Until then, happy making!

💬 DONATIONS SAW Comics is a 501C-3 non-profit and we thrive on your support and donations to keep arts education accessible! You can support us on: ➡️ Patreon:   / sawcomics  ➡️ PayPal: https://learn.sawcomics.org/pages/donate➡️ Or become a sustaining donor: https://learn.sawcomics.org/courses/s...

Thank you for being here!