Written by Shelby Loebker.
Photographed by Lucia Artigas.
Saturday, Nov. 5, SCAD hosted its ninth annual Mini-Comics Expo.
Over 90 sequential art and illustration students, alumni and faculty gathered to display and sell their work to the rest of the school. “It gives kids a chance to showcase their work, sell things, and interact with people who are reading their comics,” said sequential art professor and event organizer David Allan Duncan. “It’s sort of a microcosm of what would happen at a real convention. They get the experience of having to display their work and sell their work.”
Exhibitors and guests filled four bustling rooms in Haymans Hall, the home of the sequential art and illustration departments at SCAD. The event featured guest speaker Robyn Chapman, SCAD alumna and editor at First Second Books, who gave separate lectures on her career and mini comics, in addition to displaying her own work.
Each every exhibitor had a unique style and was eager to explain his or her art.
“I try out a lot of experimental mediums,” said Saul Zimet, a third year sequential art student, of his work, “I do a lot of collaging and painting in my comics, and I try to tell weird unique stories that have meaning.”
“I really like the story-telling of the art,” explained senior illustration and writing major Shelby Kennedy, “I also love line work and textures, so I try to put that in. A lot of people pick between traditional and digital, but I try and find the in-between spot, I think that’s the best way to go.”
“The publication I’m most proud of is probably this one, “The Complete Deep Girl.” Probably because it was the most ambitious and difficult to pull off,” said special guest and 2000 SCAD graduate, Robyn Chapman. “It’s basically a hand-bound, hand-printed graphic novel… it collects all five issues of this mini comic from the early 90s called “Deep Girl,” which had been out of print for a long time. I just love the work; I love this artist and it’s nice to bring it back into print.”
Jaya Walker, third-year sequential art student, said, “I’m very determined to make very genuine art, based on what’s very calming to me, so I try to focus a lot on my color work and how that immediately effects whoever looks at my work… if it makes me happy I want to share it.”
“Currently I have four mini comics out… I really like plants and I really like witches, they’re big things of mine,” said Taylor Weltzer, junior sequential art major.
“There’s a lot of really nice work here,” said Duncan, “I am always proud of my students.”
