Wardenclyffe’s Presentation Jess Smart Smiley I have chosen my subject. My tools and supplies are arrayed before me. Master Wardenclyffe tends to the maintenance and construction of the other machines. The warehouse is substantial and frequented often by Master Wardenclyffe’s countless investors and admirers. Many financiers, heads of state, cultural mavens, and military leaders observe…
The Book No One Wants to Read by Beth Bacon Wow! What a brilliant, wonderful experience! This book tells jokes, keeps secrets, plays games, and makes deals with the reader (while also endearing the reader to the power of words in the most delightful and clever ways). This wildly subversive celebration of literacy (including visual…
There’s a big difference between a sketchbook and a portfolio. Growing up, I erased, scribbled over, and tore out my mistakes so that only my best work remained. I didn’t know any better at the time, but I could have gotten much more of out of my sketchbooks with a few simple tweaks. What I…
I’m happy to share that I FINISHED WRITING THE ROUGH DRAFT of my gritty sci-fi adventure novel last night! Clocking in at 175,000 words and exactly 700 pages, my sketchbook ideas are now fully fleshed-out characters, creatures, and technologies that make up a single, cohesive story. Is it perfect? YES! Just kidding. Among other things,…
Read part 1 here or keep reading to learn how I found and reached out to beta readers, and shared my all-ages graphic novel before it was published. Finding Beta Readers It might be somewhat easy to find people online who want to read a book for free, but I figured I would need to…
Read on to learn more about: Creating my 224-page rough draft in 3 weeks while stuck in bed Finding beta readers to proofread my graphic novel Setting up surveys and forms to gather feedback from beta readers Using reader feedback to revise my graphic novel Hi! My name is Jess Smart Smiley. I’m an author/illustrator…
Over the last 4 or 5 years, PEOW has quickly become one of my favorite indie comics publishers. Founded by Elliot Alfredius, Olle Forsslöf and Patrick Crotty, in Stockholm, Sweden, PEOW publishes a unique brand of beautifully-produced risograph comics from around the world. While the heavy shipping costs to the US have been cost-prohibitive for…
I teach comics workshops to children, teens, and adults. Most of my students are new to writing and/or drawing, and come with equal parts excitement and anxiety. I feel like my role is to make the creation process fun and accessible, while allowing the students to pursue whichever styles/genres/approaches interest them most. Week-long comics workshops…