About this Event
Would you believe we've never run a Squishbook workshop at our studio? After touring the book round Aus, it's time to change that!
Join members of Squishface for a family friendly comics workshop in celebration of Squishbook! This comics anthology by 13 local artists and writers is a very silly, but truthful, guide to how and why children should make their own comics and stories.
At this event we'll try some activities from the book and kids will do just that! Suitable for ages 8 and up. We ask that parents stay with their children for the event. Materials provided.
We're also running this workshop on Wed Jan 8.
About Squishbook
Made by 13 of Squishface Studio's favourite artists and writers, Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends! is a silly, but truthful, guide to making your own comics and stories – our version of Cole's Funny Picture Book, or Knight Rider Annual '83. After a year of writing, drawing and workshops with the grade 2s at Kensington Primary School, we rolled all our expertise into a book for 8-12 year olds: a how-to-make-comics book, and a why-you-should-make-comics book, ideal for the shelf of every kid who can't stop drawing.
The workshop
- intro, short reading from Squishbook
- warmup activity: draw a BAD self portrait
- draw faces expressing six main emotions: anger, disgust, joy, fear, sadness, surprise
- two-face: create two characters in one, who contrast with or oppose each other
- dice game: roll to select a situation/character trait/location then draw it
About Squishface
Squishface Studio is a co-working space for comic artists and illustrators in South Melbourne, Australia. Founded in Brunswick in 2012, it can now be found in Studio Hall, an initiative of Albert Park College and St Kilda South Port Uniting Church.
Squishface runs the new Emerald Hill Comics Festival and in 2024 released our first book, . We are the only comics studio in the world that has been visited by both Art Spiegelman and Geoff “Coxy” Cox, and the only one to attempt diplomacy with a Stalinist dictatorship.
We’re located at 317-329 Dorcas St, metres away from the South Melbourne Market (which will be open on the day, hint hint).
About us
Sarah Howell is a cartoonist and educator based in Melbourne. Sarah is often involved in projects that promote the Australian comic book art scene. She is a founding member of Squishface Studio, self-publishes zines and mini-comics, was the first director of the Homecooked Comics Festival and now runs the Emerald Hill Comics Festival in South Melbourne. She has worked as a cartooning/graphic novels tutor at Box Hill Community Arts Centre and the Centre for Adult Education in Melbourne.
David Blumenstein works as a service designer and visual communicator. His award-winning comics work includes Free Money, Please and #takedown: My Evening on a Pier with Pick-up Artists and Protesters (Pikitia Press). His comics have appeared in The Guardian, The Nib and Australian MAD. He is a founding member of Squishface Studio and currently deputy president of the Australian Cartoonists Association.
Ben Hutchings is one of the instigators of Melbourne’s Squishface Studio. He has been writing and drawing comics for over 20 years. His most recent works are the children’s graphic novel Mini Mel and Timid Tom, the highly awarded graphic novel The Invisible War, published by Scale Free Network, its new follow-up Follow Your Gut!, published by Scribe, and the new series of Avanti! language learning books for children.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Squishface Studio, 317-329 Dorcas St, South Melbourne, Australia
AUD 6.61 to AUD 20.00
