The S.S. tumblr

[southsprings]

[southsprings]

View this post on Instagram

So predictable @sashafella. #catsofinstagram

[southsprings]

It's like Halloween for another week. #scary #trump

[southsprings]

Oh my God! I got a note with my book! This is the most adorable thing! I love it! (at Friends of the Library Alachua County)

[southsprings]

No. 3 #scary #trumps every day til' #halloween

[southsprings]

Still #scary #trump

[southsprings]

Tis the season #scary #trump

[southsprings]

Lotta cat in this one 👍 #comics #24HCD. (at Sequential Artists Workshop)

[southsprings]

Can't stop won't stop. #24HCD (9 pgs; 11 hrs) (at Sequential Artists Workshop)

[southsprings]

Hungry cat is hungry. #24HCD (6/24 hrs; 4/24 pages.) (at Sequential Artists Workshop)

[southsprings]

I'm behind. One page down and trying to crank out an intense 2 page spread. Trying to get the busy pages done while I'm still conscious. #24HCD (at Sequential Artists Workshop)

[southsprings]

Come see us unstoppable @comicsworkshop students at SPX (Table F 2-3) (at Small Press Expo)

[southsprings]

An abstract comic I put together in Tom's latest class. 💕 made with water/oil based graphite and white gel pen.

[sequentialartistsworkshop]

Question from email: Did you make a lot of comics before going to SAW? How has your work-output changed since finishing this program?

This is Sally C– @inkanddestroy on tumblr and thisquietcity on twitter!  

I’ve been making comics in some form or another since I was 14 (I met SAW founder Tom Hart when he was my teacher at School of Visual Arts’ Pre-College program). I made a few short comics, I didn’t finish a lot of comics partially due to also being in high school/college, and partially due to lack of confidence in my ideas/my skill level. I dropped out of college and became part of the 2012-2013 inaugural class at SAW.  

My work output has changed drastically since attending SAW, though.  I made over 100 pages between late 2012 and early 2014.  My output of personal projects fluctuates now but that’s because I’ve been able to get work in comics in and illustration through my connections with SAW.  I’ve become a much faster and more confident artist, which helps immensely.

Pardon my face:  here’s a picture of me with some of the 100+ pages of output from my first year and a half taking classes at SAW!

[maxineesque]

SAW alumni, Maxine here, to put in my two cents, but first, HOLY BOLOGNA SALLY! THAT IS A LOT OF COMICS!!!

I definitely became more productive after SAW, but just as importantly, SAW made me feel like I could tell stories I never thought I could. 

Before SAW, I don’t think I would have let myself make a silly comic about a witch, or journalistic comics, or a comics about Chia pets. 

I still do stuff like I did before, but now I got a new bag of tricks. 

[sequentialartistsworkshop]

Old person Eric here! I suck at formatting but here goes nothing:

Sally is a machine and is amazing and I seriously need to get back to work right now….. 

SAW is great at getting you to tell the stories that you always wanted to tell, and if you don’t know what kind of artist you want to be the Full year program is there to help you explore and figure out the kind of work you want to create and give you the support to make those crazy great comics that you didn’t know you had in you in the first place.

My own comics work had humble beginings from the age of 7-12 and really took off in college as I pursued my degree in fine arts. Afterwards, I had a year of doing nothing. Nothing!  All my creative input went by the wayside until I answered a flyer for a writer looking for an artist. In collaborating with him I really came to appreciate how much a community of artists matters to the creative process. He introduced me to a community of other cartoonists in the Iowa City area, who introduced me to professors at the University who were getting big comics names locally (I got to meet Los Bros Hernandez, Joe Sacco, and Phoebe Glockner!) for symposiums and lectures. That was how I met Tom Hart and learned about SAW.

I wish my output was higher although, I completed over 50 pages of comics last year while maintaining a full time job, that affords me to be able to attend SPX and FLUKE for the past three years. SAW rewards WORK and comics are the hardest thing - but I have to say that when I’m in the presence of a great community of peers and friends, which SAW has in spades! 

I love all the time I have spent here! SAW is definitely a swampy mess of friends that I love dearly and can’t wait to meet the new students that are coming next year!

[southsprings]

This is Eric again!

Not really answering a question but wouldn't YOU want to study comics at a place where there is a vibrant urban student scene full of passionate artists, or would you rather sit in a snowed in cabin in Vermont trying to deal with the an angry roomate that cannot find their sweater because you are trying to hide it under the sweater you are currently wearing.

[sequentialartistsworkshop]

Part time work

Someone asked in an e-mail: How many students also had jobs while taking the year-long program? How hard is it to juggle both? What is the part-time job market like in Gainesville?

Hi, Eric here, one on the first first-year students from SAW,

I’ve stuck around Gainesville since coming down here, and halfway through the year I found a part time job. With the multiple colleges in Gainesville, there are always jobs popping up around Gainesville and the businesses are used to the high turn around of students, and are usually good about working around class schedules. I would say a majority of student have part time jobs while they attend class here. I wish would have had a little more time to work on comics (the eternal struggle!) I was able to keep things pretty straight class wise, taking the time after class to work and having a really awesome classmates that are really trying to get better and are happy to see you get better in the process were the best thing in the full year program!

[southsprings]

Does SVA just puke out acceptance letters at just anyone? B/c I don't remember even applying. (And now their website is down... Hmmm.) #lookslikeahackjob #artschoolscamscam