So what did we do?

Each group had its own studio and its own Mission. Team Thompson all came with a thumbnailed first draft of a graphic novel they were working on; these ranged in length from 60 – 300 pages. They spent the first week reading each others’ work; the second week in lengthy discussions of each; and then the third week on a range of technical and aesthetic discussions. Their studio was a cozy little writers centre and was the preferred late night hang out of the workshop.

The Thompson Studio

Pope’s boys (and Katie) were in the “bullpen” the painters’ studio and they did a lot of work with the brush and then some serious mind expansion, with Paul opening them up to a lot of new art and some awesome guests including Sam Hiti, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Jeff Newelt and Kostas Semeretis. These guys covered everything from working professionally in the comics biz; to story creations and successful self-publishing; to online promotion and webcomics; and crossing over into the art world. And they each, despite all being heavy-hitters in their own right, were just as sharing and open as everyone else there. Early on in the piece, Paul gave a screening of Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain which defined the spiritual quest his group went on – through ink, brushwork and zen.

I was in Svetlana’s group; which was initially defined as the “manga group”, because of Svet’s publishing career with Tokyopop and the majority of tastes of the group. Our mission was to make a book together – a minimum of 10 page story which we would take through several stages of drafting and pitching with her editor and publisher. We would then draw and complete the story in a week, send it off to print at Lulu and get it returned by the end of the course. It was a daunting challenge, and was a lot more hands-on, more draw / less discuss, than the other groups, but this was my path and I would follow it. I realised soon that many of  the answers I wanted were buried in the work, and it was up to me to push through to find them.

Analysing first drafts with Tokyopop publisher, Editor and Svetlana Chmakova

Of course the other half of the experience was the other associate artists – everyone could draw like crazy. One of the first things we did was each present our work and say where were from. Everyone there had come at it from a different angle, but everyone was looking to do the same thing – create and publish jaw-dropping comics. I was lucky last, and after being intimidated by the high standard of those around me showed the sixty40 reel and my zombie project and was met with a good response. Leslie even walked up and gave me a cigar afterwards. As an added bonus, Craig Thompson quoted the sixty40 philosophy in a presentation he gave to students at orlando University which we went to watch. Got some warm fuzzies off that one.

Dr Pat Grant dissects another text while Sam chews the fat

The vibe amongst all the artists was like a summer camp that wouldn’t end. Every morning the commons was filled with folks drinking coffee and sitting around reading each others’ comics, drawing in each others’ sketchbooks, swapping names of great books they’d read. Every day was filled with varied and full on workshops, which artist walked out of exhausted or enlightened. Every night the lights of the different studios burned as artists drew and drew till way late, or talked until even later, soaking up every second of being there. Sounds good, huh?