Spend 6 months building the confidence to finish the project that is biting, begging, tearing at you to be made
2024 is the year you join the SAW Graphic Novel Intensive
This is your time to find the focus and tools to say, 'Yes! I am ready. I am here to bring my Graphic Novel to life.'
The Graphic Novel Development Intensive is what you need.
Here we bring together the combined wisdom and experience of SAW instructors Tom Hart, Jess Ruliffson, Hyena Hell and Emma Jensen to provide you with inspiration, advice, critique, motivation and structured plan forward.
Through access to unique learning resources, a vibrant community and regular special events with comics professionals, you will gain insights into what it takes to realize your vision.
Make the decision to make your book happen.
Hear it directly from some of our previous students
Featuring "Val-d'Or Neon" by Olivier Ballou, "Jackrabbit Cherrybomb" by A.J. Delp, and "This One Summer" by Cheyenne Smith
Honing in on your idea: Choosing what to work with.
Parameters and Formats: What to focus on and aim for.
Story and Structure: Using tools to compel the reader.
Keeping Going: How to find the energy to keep going.
Planning the Finish: Making a plan for the upcoming weeks, months or whatever it takes!
Publishing and Sharing: Lots of stories about how to wrap it up for the world.
Reflection: Learning from what you have experienced and accomplished.
Accountability: weekly zoom calls with instructors and peers!
See more testimonials at bottom!
Single payment of $1,249
6 payments of $229
Payment assistance
SAW is committed to leaving no one behind. If you wish to request payment assistance, please follow THIS LINK.
We will be limiting cohort size to 25 students (which we've found is a very good size, trust us!)
Tuesday calls will still be large group calls led by Tom Hart and Jess Ruliffson. Smaller cohort calls will be organized by mentors.
Our three mentors for smaller groups will be
Students will pick one mentor to work with in addition to high-level calls with Tom, Jess and Elise.
No calls are mandatory. The program can completed and engaged with asynchonrously
Tuesdays, alternating between 2 pm Eastern and 8 pm Eastern. These calls are led by Tom hart, Elise Dietrich and Jess Ruliffson and are intended for broad topic, discussion and Q+A
Students are recommended to choose one of the following cohorts:
Mondays at noon Eastern with Georgia Webber
Thursdays 8 am Eastern with Hyena Hell
Thursday 8 pm Eastern with Katharine Woodman-Maynard
Additionally, our asynchronous network is open 24/7
You will have the support of SAW's professionals who have been where you have been, felt what you have felt. Interact with them through the online community page, weekly Zoom check-ins and regular office hours.
Tom Hart (instructor) is 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.
Jess Ruliffson (instructor) is an award-winning cartoonist who has lectured and taught workshops at The School of Visual Arts, The Drawing Center, and The Center for Cartoon Studies. In 2017, her work was shortlisted for Slate's Cartoonist Studio Prize. In 2022 her latest graphic novel, Invisible Wounds, will be released through Fantagraphics.
Elise Dietrich (instructor) has made hundreds of pages of great comics, including Key West Diaries and GRANDES EXPECTATIVAS, which she workshopped in this very program. See more at https://www.elisedietrich.com/comics
Hyena Hell (mentor) 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.
Georgia Webber (mentor) is best known for her debut graphic memoir, Dumb: Living Without a Voice (Fantagraphics 2018), the chronicle of her severe vocal injury and sustained vocal condition which causes her pain from using her voice. This difficult experience lead her to work as a Cranial Sacral Therapist, a meditation facilitator, and as an improvising musician, blending elements of healthcare, body awareness and creative expression within constraints.
K. Woodman-Maynard (mentor) is a graphic novelist and freelance graphic designer based in Minneapolis, MN. She’s versatile in diverse range of mediums and styles. Her graphic novel debut, The Great Gatsby (Candlewick Press) was featured in The New York Times and The Guardian, and called, “hugely rewarding” by The Wall Street Journal. More about Katharine here.
Throughout the course we are also joined by various comics professionals who share their hard won wisdom of the comics industry. In 2021 alone that included Matt Madden, Annie Mok, Miranda Harmon, Sam Alden, Sophie Yanow, Andi Santagata, Hannah McGill, Kriota Willberg and Casey Nowak.
FAQ
This program is focused on a single project.
The online certificate program is more of an exploratory, tool-building, voice-finding program.
When you have some tools and a sense of your voice and project, then you are ready or this!
1. Do you want significantly more skills to be able to do comics "right"?
2. Or do you just want to make your graphic novel happen ?
*We put "right" in quotes because we believe everyone can make something stunning with what they have if they have the will and a support system.
The Year Long Certificate Program: When you really really want to up your skills to something more akin to what you see in the graphic novel aisle of the bookstore or library you go to. We teach an amalgam of skills including anatomy, landscape drawing, composition, color/value placement, character design, etc.
This will help you find your voice to create your own comics from start to finish.
After that, we often recommend the
Graphic Novel Intensive for: Wisdom, project management, working skills, and mentorship- that's what the Graphic Novel program is about.
Of course your path may be different. We've had people do only one of them. We've had people do them in reverse order.
We're here to help you get YOUR comics made!
No! We understand (boy, do we!) how hard it is to START.
But you should have some idea of what the project is, and be eager to start. We will hold you accountable, but YOU have to do the work. Accountability, group discussion and critique is a lot of what this program is about.
We will ask you to show up, again and again and again.
The time commitment is entirely up to you. We can't make the book for you ;) As with most programs of this kind, the people that get the most out of it put the most in. You have to find a rhythm that works for you. As for interacting in the group, you can get away with as little or as much as you like as well. We know life gets in the way and feel that if you can devote 3-5 hours a week at a minimum, you should be able to some progress. There is at least one zoom call each week that generally runs for 2 hours and functions as an informal check in with instructors and peers.
All the video components of the course materials are prerecorded. The community is open 24/7 and Tom, Emma and Jess will be in it daily. Additionally, we meet weekly via Zoom. At least one instructor, sometimes two, will be on each of these, with one call per month featuring a professional cartoonist, editor or creator.
The calls will be weekly, alternating 2 pm and 8 pm Eastern on Tuesdays. They are not mandatory and are recorded unless otherwise stated.
No, not in its entirety. We can only read short-story sized excerpts at the scale of this program.
Our main personal offering is an ability to help you see the whole project in context, the motivation and some strategy to work on it, and editorial feedback and critiquing help where needed.
If you want more in-depth feedback, or editorial services for the entire project, please look to our 1-on-1 consulting page.
There is no materials list. This course is for people working on something in a medium they are comfortable with. For people who are looking to change their practice, we can help them figure out the best materials to help them reach their goals.
One of the instructors will be in the discussion group at least every other day. The online community works best with investment from the cohort of students all working on similar problems and challenges together. We are excited to guide the discussions in important and valuable ways, and give direct feedback to the work that is shared there.
Yes! Absolutely! We want to make sure this course is the right fit for you and for us. If we aren't already in touch with you, please email us if you want to share what you want to be working on so we can make sure we can serve you.
The weekly calls are really good and important if you can make them, but they're not essential. Working on your project is what's essential, and the asynchronous work is an important part of that. We have a cascade of important ideas, structure and exercises should you need them, and our instructors are there our vibrant community to comment and advise asynchronously on a daily basis. Additionally we have Q+A monthly calls with professionals, and occasionally schedule specific live workshops when needed.
We get a lot of people in the class at different points in their project. Some are already up and rolling, and some are still focusing on their idea. We generally spend a month getting our idea pinned down and we have a variety of exercises we do to get there.
Yes, we have THREE mentors this year for smaller group calls.
They are:
Georgia Webber: Mondays, 12 noon Eastern
Hyena Hell: Thursdays, 8 am Eastern
Katharine Woodman-Maynard: Thursdays, 8pm Eastern
Single payment of $1,249
6 payments of $229
Payment assistance
SAW is committed to leaving no one behind. If you wish to request payment assistance, please follow THIS LINK.