>> Asian Imposter by Madalyn Drewno 

What does it mean to be a “Real Asian”? 

>> The Beginning by Olesya Gonserovskaya

The war began long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It lives within my family.

>> The Dirty Politics of Denying Science by Laura Athayde

 In Brazil, the new act of rebellion for right-wingers is to drink soap. Yes, soap.

Crucial Comix is featured in a new documentary from Oregon Public Broadcasting, “Indie Comics City: How Portland Built Its Own Comics Universe.” The documentary centers on interviews with several Portland cartoonists, including Crucial publisher Shay Mirk.  “You don’t need anyone’s permission to share your voice and everyone’s story matters,” says Shay in the hour-long film. “That might sound kind of corny and cliche, but that’s a powerful thing to say to people: Your experience matters.” You can watch the documentary for free from OPB.

✨ All of our classes and workshops are online and sliding scale. Reply to this email to ask about free spots for low-income students in any class!✨

Classes

Introduction to Comics Coloring with Xenon Honchar and Ali Holmes: Getting the right colors is hard with millions of options to choose from. Professional colorist Xenon Honchar and comics editor Ali Holmes co-teach this five-week class exploring practical ways that comics artists use color to tell stories. Participants will learn about color schemes, comics tricks-of-the-trade like spot color, and discuss color from an accessibility perspective. Mondays, September 28 - October 26, 4pm-6pm PST/7-9pm EST

In Graphic Detail: Horror Comics with Mel Gillman is a four week course about writing and drawing horror comics. Students learn about topics like tension building, creating strong narrative surprises, creature design, and horror character building and character arcs, and typically draw a short original horror comic of their own to bring in for in-class show and tell at the end. Tuesdays, October 6th – October 27th, 4pm-6pm PST/7-9pm EST.

Upcoming One-Off Workshops 

Intro to digital drawing with Procreate: Want to get into drawing digitally? Or maybe you’re a seasoned Procreate user looking for some new tips and tricks? This beginner-friendly workshop with Audra McNamee will go over a basic comics-making workflow in Procreate. Sunday, October 25th, 10am-12pm PST/1pm-3pm EST

Intermediate Digital Drawing with Procreate: You’ve been around the block with Procreate a couple times, but you’re not totally comfortable with alpha lock and clipping masks, or you want to be more efficient when you’re coloring your artwork. This project-based workshop by Audra McNamee will challenge you to use new Procreate tools and settings as you make an illustration. Thursday, November 5th, 4-6pm PST/7-9pm EST

Artist Talks

Lucy Bellwood on tackling years-long projects: The adventuring cartoonist who has penned comics while aboard wooden ships and river rafts will talk about her process for working on long projects. In this one-hour talk that involves ✨EXCITING SPREADSHEETS✨, Lucy will share how she stays focused and organized while working on a graphic novel project that takes years to write and draw. Sunday, October 11th, 12pm PST/3pm EST

Blue Delliquanti on writing science fiction: The teacher and author of beloved series O Human Star will talk about their approach to making a compelling science fiction series. Thursday, November 12, 4-5pm PST/7-8pm EST

→ Check out all our upcoming classes

🍂 Fall Festivals 🍂

✸ Portland Zine Symposium - This two-day event of 150 zine-makers on the Portland State University campus is always a blast. Come through on Saturday! Saturday, October 17, 11am-5pm 

✸ Comic Arts Festival of Eugene - If you’re anywhere near Eugene, Oregon, this local comics festival draws big-name guests Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco, and Katie Skelly. Sunday, October 18, 11am-6pm 

✸ St. Louis Independent Comics Expo - Midwesterners! SLICE brings together dozens of amazing artists from all over the country. This year, Crucial publisher Shay is a special guest and it’s happening on Halloween, so expect costumes. October 31, 10am-5pm 

✸ Short Run - Crucial editor Audra is holding it down at Seattle’s finest comics festival, Short Run. November 7th, 11am-6pm  

✸ Non-fiction Comics Festival - Head to Burlington, Vermont for this very sweet gathering of all non-fiction artists. You’ve probably been looking for an excuse to visit Vermont, anyway! November 14th, 11am-6pm

» Australians! Island magazine is accepting pitches of graphic narratives for their 2027 issues. They pay $1600 for eight-page comics. They accept work from artists living in Australia and from Australians living abroad. Submit here by October 1.

» Cartoon Crossroads is now taking exhibitor applications. The annual comics and animation festival will happen April 15-18 in Columbus, Ohio. Applications are due November 3.

» Artists looking for a bit of breathing room: Canadian nonprofit Artist Ally is offering nine grants of $140-600 for visual artists from any country who draw or illustrate their work. Deadline is September 30. 

» All praise the Boston Comics Arts Foundation, which is offering two grants: 15 micro-grants of $150 for people tabling at MICE who have unpublished mini-comics and $250 “lightning grants” for any cartoonist in Massachusetts. The MICE grant is open until September 30th and the next lightning grant cycle opens November 2nd, so get ready.  

This newsletter was written by Shay Mirk. The fall festival banner was created by Ollie K. Crucial Comix is supported in part by our backers on Patreon and by the Sequential Artists Workshop.