I really, really, REALLY love making mini-comics. I’ve been in the mini-comic game since the SCAD Zine and Record Fair of February 2006 (I THINK it was 2006 anyways). I’ve been to Fluke every year since 2006. I’ve been going to SPX since 2007 and tabled last year and if I can get the money together I’ll be tabling again this year. I helped put together the Zine Team Zine Fair in 2007 and partook in the 2008 fair. I took Duncan’s Mini-Comics class last winter quarter and I want to TA for that class if I come back to SCAD as a grad student. At the end of this month SCAD is throwing another Zine Fair and I plan on being there. I fucking LOVE mini-comics.

I think one of the things that drives me to mini-comics is the craft. It is an art form that lets me use my hands. Yeah, I draw comics with my hands but that is different than printing, cutting, folding, gluing, screenprinting, and stapling a mini-comic by hand. I love the craft. I feel more “artsy” when I am making a mini-comic.

I also love the community. Comics as a whole already has a strong community. We all look out for each other, help each other. Rarely are we cut-throat like say, advertising or fashion. There is a lot of camaraderie in comics. We all want to see each other succeed because the more good comics out there the better our industry will be. But there’s an even stronger community in mini-comics. I love trading my minis with others and love getting other people’s minis in trades. I love going to folding parties or silkscreening with friends. I love the road trips to Fluke and SPX. I’ve made lots of good friends over the years through mini-comics.

If I could make only mini-comics for the rest of my life and make a living at it, I would be as happy as a clam. But the reality is it is impossible to make a living this way. I would need to mass produce a lot and sell a lot a month to make a living, but that would eliminate the hand made aspect of it, which is what makes a mini-comic a mini-comic. The most I could hope for is to make beer money. Or ideally enough money to spend on making MORE mini-comics.

Even though there is no money in this, I will keep on making minis. Even if I somehow manage to someday become a super famous cartoonist and super rich and have dozens of graphic novels to my name, I will continue to make mini-comics by hand. I just love it too much to ever give it up.

And yes, I’m currently working on building an online store to sell my minis, so if you feel so inclinded you’ll be able to purchase some. But that won’t be for another month or so. But it’s coming. I need to get my act together first though.

Tags: boxcar joe, inkdick minicomic, minicomic, pranas, print studio

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.