Thank you for joining us for our inaugural Nib and Ink Fest! We had an incredible month of free events, ranging from panels on how to improve your comics craft to portfolio reviews. You can watch replays of every NIF event at the Cartoonist Cooperative’s YouTube channel. We hope you had a great time during NIF 2025, and we hope to see you again next year for NIF 2026!
*We are unable to offer VODs for “The Dangers of Influence, and the Unintentional Artist” and the NSFW Portfolio Review.
Becca Carey will be reviewing and providing critiques of lettering portfolios. All skill levels welcome. New and established. If you’re a cartoonist lettering your own art of have an interest in becoming a professional letterer. Those who’d like a review will send a pdf of 5-10 pages and Becca will provide notes and critiques to […]
Portfolio reviews are common in the world of print comics, but what about webcomics? The creators of the Screen Tones Webcomic podcast are taking sign-ups for WEBCOMIC PORTFOLIO REVIEWS from May 1-9, where you can show us your work. We’ll review throughout the month, and then send you our email summary on May 31 of […]
Let’s kick off our month long online fest! Hear a bit about what’s coming up for our panels and workshops, a few words from the Steering Committee, and a keynote speech from Mariah-Rose Marie, author of COOK LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO INTUITIVE COOKING WITH RECIPES FROM AROUND THE WORLD and the upcoming […]
The Minicomic Awards is an annual virtual showcase founded by cartoonists Leslie Hung and Sloane Leong that spotlights the unique, challenging, and under-recognized work in this short form medium. Our judges for 2025 are: Barbara Benas, Ashanti Fortson, Gigi Murakami, Cam Marshall, Evan Dahm, Arpad Okay, and Madeline McGrane. Our MC this year is Starfishface! […]
Art schools teach a lot about art, but sometimes don’t teach how to make it into a career. Join this crash course to learn how to make your art work for you with basic lessons and tips on finances, building a company and brand, business best practices, and how to market yourself and your work, […]
Come join acclaimed comic creatives Jadzia Axelrod, Preeti Chhibber, Steve Lieber, and Stephanie Williams in a panel moderated by Zoe Tunnell as they discuss their experiences creating comics for IP at powerhouses like Marvel, DC, and more. If you’re a comics creative curious how to get your own foot in the door in comics IP […]
A discussion on artists and how they shape society. This panel is intended for all artists that create for a global audience. (Unfortunately, the Co-op is unable to provide a VOD of this event. Thank you for your understanding!)
Professional Artist and Writer, Michael Walsh, will give a detailed review of your portfolio and provide areas of improvement and advice on next steps. Submit your portfolio for review here: Michael Walsh Portfolio Review Submissions. Please include a mix of primarily interior pages and a few covers or pin-ups drawn in a consistent style. Your […]
You got accepted to your first event! Great! Now what are you going to bring? Tune in for this panel, Tabling at Conventions for Beginners, to get the 101! In this panel we will cover everything from types of events, what to bring with you, emergency supplies, presentation, and table etiquette. So if you’re totally […]
A freelancer’s perspective from behind the curtain of subscription campaigns, building online presence, social media, and support work. There is a lot to being a creative, especially as you build a progressively bigger following. From making canned messages, evergreen and supplemental content creation, templates, and a directory of fan mail answers are all on the […]
This panel has been cancelled due to the presenter’s personal circumstances. We hope to reschedule it in the future! We live in an age of computerized everything. Technology has made creating and distributing comics easier than ever before, but just like an EC horror story with an ironic twist every new development comes with a […]
How do you make a newsletter that your fans want to read? This panel is for you! In How to Make a Newsletter Your Fans Love to Read, this informational panel will cover the basics of starting, running, and maintaining a newsletter to share your work and build community with your readers. If you have […]
What’s the right choice for binding your comic? What kinds of special effects do you want on the covers? What even is a DPI? This panel seeks to answer some of those questions and more. Book designers and pre-press workers Carina Taylor and Hye Mardikian will speak to moderator Joan Zahra Dark about what you […]
We know comics are a form of radical self-expression, but many of us don’t feel that way about our own. Join us for a workshop to challenge your writing and comic-making skills to create something beautiful, rich, and uniquely you. You will be guided step by step and finish with a one page comic that […]
Live round table with Jordie Bellaire. Jordie will critique the coloring portfolios of participants as a group. All skill levels welcome. For cartoonists and those with interest in becoming professional colorists. If you’d like to submit your portfolio for review, please follow this link to the submission portal! Catch a replay of this event on […]
A lot of artists dislike drawing backgrounds. Partly because they are a lot of work but also because the characters and the story are the FUN part of making a comic. This panel is to go over how to approach backgrounds in a way that treat them as extensions of the characters and characters unto […]
Do all of your dramatic scenes sometimes feel a little flat? Do they sometimes feel like they’re over-the-top and a little too MUCH? Well there’s a time for drama and there’s a time for melodrama, and finding that line is often a balancing act between script, dialog, pacing, paneling, camera, balloons and art composition. In […]
Webcomic Day is an online, community-oriented event organized by NIF’s friends, the Screen Tones Cast! What is #WebcomicDay? Webcomics have been around since the very early stages of the internet, and from then, have steadily grown in popularity over the years. From readers to creators, webcomics have made a sizable impact on the creative community […]
Small or large, webcomic collectives have a rich history, and can help independent webcomic creators combine their skills as a group to make the path much easier! Join Delphina, Max, Darwin, Eliushi, Sskessa, and Kimmy of the SpiderForest Webcomic Collective in this one-hour discussion and Q&A session about what a webcomic collective is, the various […]
Join Lacey of LIES WITHIN, Nero of ULTRAVIOLENTS and SPLIT CHECK, Bob of INTO THE SMOKE and DEMON OF THE UNDERGROUND, and Kody of KEEPING TIME as they chat about the different ways they approach crafting their webcomics. Each artist will share snippets from their process at varying stages: from script and thumbnails to pencils […]
Three creators talk about their experiences with transitioning their experimental fancomics into original work. Spicyyeti will be telling you why every artist should just start publishing their comics on their own websites, and going through his process for more experimental webcomics between both fan (Jade Route, Y12k) and original (Godhead) projects. Max Banshees will be […]
There’s more to the comics industry than inks and nibs! Every day, millions of people make this industry work without ever picking up a pencil or writing a line of script. Join Hye Mardikian (pre-press/graphic designer), Kevin Wilson (web designer), and Kel McDonald (editor) in a panel talking about all the different ways one can […]
Anyone can find a basic step-by-step guide to making comics, but how do you create comics and manga that truly make the reader FEEL something? Comic creators Michelle Stanford (Centralia 2050) and Matt McEwan (Ruin) break down how they use art, lettering, layout and sound effects to imbue every part of their comics with story. […]
Whether it’s for a webcomic, a self-published mini comic, a traditionally published graphic novel, or otherwise, each comic project has its own needs to meet its final form, and every comic creator has their own way of responding to that puzzle with their own creative process. Join our esteemed Cartoonist Co-op members Kody Okamoto (KEEPING […]
A quickstart overview of Blender for use in creating reference material for making comics. This workshop is intended for anyone who has ever wanted to learn 3D modeling/staging and has never used Blender before. Catch a replay of this event on the Cartoonist Cooperative’s YouTube channel!
Interested in making a name for yourself out in the wide, wide world of erotic comics? Thinking about applying to an adult anthology? Debuting your carefully written kinky webcomic? Seasoned professionals Nero Villagallos O’Reilly and Taylor Titmouse are available to give pointers to new creators and guidance to those looking to take their comics to […]
The Co-op is launching a new podcast and wants you to tune in to its Pilot Episode! Check this out to listen interviews, dramatic comics readings, recommendations, technique chat, and more all contributed by and featuring our members! With it all wrapping up with a fun game show. Catch a replay of this event on […]
It’s a wrap-up show! Hear about some of our favorite parts of the first-ever Nib & Ink Fest, what’s next for the Cartoonist Cooperative and a BIG announcement you don’t want to miss!
An interactive presentation on the history of comics workers quest to organize and how efforts succeeded and failed over the century and what we can learn from their experiences to make a better comics world today. NOTICE: This event has been cancelled due to personal reasons. Thank you for your understanding!
