On the Border of Nice by Winter Wei: Canadians often define themselves by criticizing the U.S., but racism and xenophobia are not just American problems.

Cartoonists Against ICE: Crucial collected a series of 10 comics by artists around the country documenting ICE in their communities. 

Hourly Comics Day is February 8th!

Hourly Comics Day is an annual just-for-fun tradition where cartoonists try to draw a comic every hour for a day. The challenge results in chaotic diary comics documenting the intimate life of a regular day. The event was started by artist Simone Veil in 2006 and typically happens on February 1st. But for 2026—the 20th year—the Cartoonist Cooperative helped organize to move the day to February 8th to respect and celebrate Black History Month, which begins February 1. Anyone is welcome to participate in Hourly Comics Day, just draw comics throughout the day, don’t stress out to much about getting them perfect, and share them online with the tag #HourlyComicsDay.

Workshops

✨ All of our classes and workshops are online and sliding scale.✨

» THIS SUNDAY! Self-Care Stretching and Movement for Artists: In this free one-hour workshop, Kriota Willberg will lead participants through small stretches that every artist needs to know! Living a creative and productive life centered around creative practice, and/or a small-scale work area can be liberating for your mind, but hard on your body. Sunday 2/8 at 11am-12pm PST (2pm-3pm EST)

» Graphic Essays: Using Comics to Make Academic Theory More Accessible Cartoonist and academic Darya Foroohar discusses different ways to incorporate academia into the graphic medium and gives examples of existing works students can learn from. Thursday February 12th, 5pm-7pm PST (8pm-10pm EST)

» Telling Trans Stories: Let’s make trans comics! In this two-hour workshop, artist Al Benbow will talk about some of their favorite trans comics and cartoonists, discuss trans character-building, and different ways of exploring trans identity and experiences in comics. Thursday, February 26, 2026 from 4-6pm PST (7-9pm EST)

» Draw Your Feelings: Whether it’s impostor syndrome, creative anxiety, or wider worries about the world, comics are a great way to face and move through big emotions. Artist Cassy Lee leads this two-hour workshop about illustrating your feelings as a tool for emotional regulation. Saturday, March 21st, 10am-12:30pm PST (1:30pm-3:30pm EST)

Multi-week classes

» STARTING SOON! Making Memoir Comics: This seven-session memoir comics class will focus on telling real-life stories about your life, identity, and family. Artist Shay Mirk guides participants through writing and drawing a 20-panel personal story, and everyone also creates many shorter comics to practice different techniques and find their visual voice. February 10 – March 24th, on Tuesdays from 5pm-7pmPST (8pm-10pm EST)

→ Check out all our upcoming classes

In a video of Minneapolis anti-ICE protests this January, graphic reportage artist Isabelle Brourman stands right in the middle of the crowd, wearing a gas mask while she swiftly sketches the scene on paper clipped to a wooden board. Then suddenly, an agent lifts his weapon and fires right at Isabelle. She lifts her drawing board to protect herself and the projectile—a rubber bullet? A pepper ball?—shoots through the board, barely missing her head.  Isabelle is used to putting herself into uncomfortable situations to create stunning reportage that swirls with the chaotic movement of real life. As part of a small collective of artists called Starring America, since 2022 the New York-based Isabelle has been attending high-profile trials, rallies, and protests to illustrate whatever unfolds. Describing herself as an “endurance artist,” Isabelle thrives on sticking around for hours or days to create her collage-like, multi-layered illustrations.

CRUCIAL: Can you tell me a little bit about your art practice?

ISABELLE BROURMAN: I started this project where I basically became a courtroom artist and retooled that tradition to create live work in justice spaces. I consider what I’m making a historical document. I'm a credentialed member of the press, I'm actually the first un-networked sketch artist to have an official seat in the New York court system. The way that I wanted to make my work was that it will be free of the expectations and aesthetic limitations of traditional courtroom art, which serves a really important purpose in substituting for photography. Those artists have a responsibility to get certain things for [news] wires. I'm happy to move with things, and to lose the quality of, like, a perfect picture representation. If something changes, I'll throw it on top of something else, and what kind of emerges is this chaotic picture that I think a lot of people resonate with. 

I saw the video where the federal agent in Minneapolis shoots something at you and hits your board. What were they shooting and do you remember what you felt in that moment? 

I was shocked. I was in the moment, I was just sort of on my feet and working and just trying to get everything down that I could. I had no idea when it was going to end, how it was going to sort of devolve. It was honestly a really bizarre scene. I will say that my board has been hit by a lot of pepper balls recently—I've had this board since 2022, I've brought it into every kind of condition and nothing has punctured it like this. It pierced a very clean hole into it and then through the paper. I don't know what it was.

How did you keep focused and working in really chaotic situations? 

I've always made work as a way to pay attention. It’s my nature, it's how I express myself, how I remember something, and how I participate. I like the process, the attempt to make something right now. I think it's like a poetic relatability to it for people, it's impressionistic. It's totally improvisational. It's a beautiful mess, basically.

→ Follow Isabelle on Instagram

A new project aims to help people who are blind or low-vision connect with illustration: Accessible Lines features audio descriptions of comics and illustration. The website launched with 20 illustrations from artists in the UK and Turkey, each paired with an audio description of the work. For example, the sequential piece Everlution by artist Zara Slattery is accompanied by Zara’s voice describing the work aloud, “Everlution is a lived experience and an autobiographical account of growing up, moving through life and the impact of a sudden, life-changing illness.” The project intends to show what’s possible when thinking of ways to make art accessible to people typically left out of visual art platforms. Check it out here. 

>> Cartoonist Studio Prize: Applications are open for the Cartoonist Studio Prize, which celebrates two exceptional comics each year. All genres are welcome (fiction or nonfiction) and the prize is for both long-form and short-form comics. It’s free to apply, just send in your work by February 28th.

>> Short Run’s extremely rad comics residency Trailer Blaze is now open for applications. Spend a week making comics on the Washington Coast! This April residency is for women, trans, and nonbinary cartoonists. Applications close February 28th.

>> Lots of small zine festivals are open for applications right now! Just to shout out a couple, comics artists and zine makers can apply for spots at Madison’s Print and Resist, Los Angeles’s Heavy Manners Zine Fair, and Portland’s Summer Story Fest.

This newsletter was written by Shay Mirk. Crucial Comix is supported in part by our backers on Patreon and by the Sequential Artists Workshop (thank you, friends!).