Colleen Coover is an Eisner Award-winning comic book artist based in Portland, Oregon. Her comics include the adult title Small Favors and the all-ages Banana Sunday. She has been published by Dark Horse, Top Shelf, Marvel, and many others. She works with her husband, writer Paul Tobin, on the Eisner-winning series Bandette. http://www.colleencoover.net/
.
.
JEN WANG is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Los Angeles. She is the co-author of the New York Times Bestselling graphic novel IN REAL LIFE with Cory Doctorow, KOKO BE GOOD, and THE PRINCE AND THE DRESSMAKER. Her work has also appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, Hazlitt, Slate, McSweeney’s, and Portland Mercury. She is the co-founder and organizer of the annual festival COMIC ARTS LOS ANGELES.” http://jenwang.net/
.
VANESA R. DEL REY Cuban artist Vanesa R. Del Rey began her career doing concept art for animation. Her work in comics has been described as dark, gritty and mysterious with great dominance of figurative work. She has illustrated Scarlet Witch, Spider-Women Alpha, and Daredevil Annual (2016) for Marvel Comics. REDLANDS, co-created with Jordie Bellaire is her first creator-owned series with Image Comics. She currently lives and works by the beach in Miami, FL. http://vrdelrey.com/
.
.
Ngozi Ukazu is the creator of Check, Please!, an online graphic novel whose printing campaign remains the most funded webcomics Kickstarter ever. She graduated from Yale University in 2013 with a degree in Computing and The Arts, and her first graphic novel “Check Please: #Hockey” hits bookstores Sept. 18, 2018. https://www.ngoziu.com/
Evan Narcisse is a journalist and critic who writes about video games, comic books, movies and TV, often focusing on the intersection of blackness and pop culture. He is a senior staff writer at io9, having previously written for The Atlantic, Time Magazine, and Kotaku. He’s taught a course on video game journalism at New York University and appeared as an expert guest on CNN and NPR. He’s currently writing the Rise of the Black Panther miniseries for Marvel Comics. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Austin, Texas.
.
Mad Rupert is a comic artist living in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been self publishing her own webcomic, SAKANA, since 2010, and has also worked extensively on licensed comics based on popular Cartoon Network shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Steven Universe. When she’s not making a million comic pages all the time, Mad enjoys spending time on farms, collecting miniature cacti, and hanging out with her husband Gannon, and dog Gizmo.http://www.sakana-comic.com
.
Lilah Sturges is the Eisner and Ignatz-nominated writer of such comics as Jack of Fables, House of Mystery, and Public Relations, in addition to the upcoming Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass. She lives in Austin, Texas.
.
Paul Benjamin is a New York Times bestselling author who has written and produced comics and video games for diverse properties including Hulk, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, Star Wars, Star Trek, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, the Muppets, Monsters, Inc., G.I. Joe, and more. His original manga series Pantheon High was a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens nominee. He spends his days as a Senior Writer at Daybreak Games and his nights writing comic strips featuring various Disney princesses for the aptly named comic book series Disney Princess http://paulbenjaminwrites.com/
Mark Kistler is an Emmy award winning PBS Artist who has taught millions of people around how to draw in 3-D. He starred in the PBS children’s series “The Secret City With Commander Mark” 1988, “The Draw Squad” 1995, and won an Emmy for “The Imagination Station” 2012. Over a million of his bestselling How-to-draw books have sold and millions of visitors have drawn with him on his YouTube channel and at www.markkistler.com. Now this new generation can learn to draw with Mark on Amazon Prime!
Mark has presented his “Draw! Draw! Draw!” LIVE interactive draw-along K-12 Visual Arts performances at over 7,000 schools, Art Museums, Universities, and Comic Cons around the world. Some of Mark’s past students have directed and animated hit movies like Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Toy Story! Tangled, and Frozen; created the animation company Pixar, and won Oscars and Emmys for their animation work; gone on to engineering and architecture, designing The Los Angeles Cathedral, Manhattan skyscrapers, components for the International Space Station, and the Mars Landers. Mark is now teaching the new generation of comic illustrators, digital game designers on his enormously popular YouTubeLIVE webcasts, (1 million viewers!)
https://youtu.be/JSAsR7nV-bI
https://monomythic.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/commander-marks-secret-city-creating-generations-of-art/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kistler
Alex Grandstaff is a Houston based artist, writer, and advocate. They create comics and facilitate workshops on sexual health and open communication. They believe in empowering others to better Express themselves through information and language. They write under the name A Grandmark and their work can be found at agrandmark.com.
.
Dylan Edwards is an award-winning queer trans comic artist, best known as the creator of TRANSPOSES and VALLEY OF THE SILK SKY. His comics have been featured in several anthologies, including QU33R (2014 Ignatz Award), NO STRAIGHT LINES (2013 Lambda Literary Award), and BEYOND (2016 Lambda Literary Award). His work has also appeared on The Nib, PEN America, and Splinter News. http://www.studiondr.com/
.
Jeremy Holt is a Vermont-based writer whose most recent works include Skip to the End and Skinned (Insight Comics), Southern Dog (Action Lab) and Pulp (Comixology), which IGN has called, “…one of the best one-shot comics of the year.” When he’s not writing, this Mac Genius is fixing computers, and getting confused for his identical triplet brothers. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Holt.
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jeremy-Holt/2116359932
.
As the Austin Chronicle’s Gay Place Editor (and news writer) Sarah Marloff has covered everything from queer culture to land use. She’s a self-taught journalists with more than a decade of experience and her work primarily focuses on ending rape culture, HIV advocacy, queer rights, and queers and women in entertainment. Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and blogs on both coasts, including Washington D.C.’s City Paper and AfterEllen.
.
Korey Coleman is the owner & creator of Double Toasted & host of The Sunday Service, The Weekly Roast and Toast, The Movie Review Extravaganza, The Casual Call In Show. An animator and illustrator who found performing in front of a camera to be just as fun, Korey is crass, loud, and shares more about his personal life than the average person (perhaps a little too much). Very passionate about presentation and keeping his audience entertained, he always remembers to keep a good sense of h umor during a discussion.
Martin Thomas Illustrator. Animator. Film Critic/Podcast Co-Host. He has answered to many names: “Leon”, “Cat Daddy”, “Punmaster General”…but mostly he’s known as the ‘old man’ of Double Toasted. Martin has been co-hosting shows with Korey for the last 20 years, all the way back to the days of Access TV with ‘The Reel Deal’ – then Spill.com – and now Double Toasted. Martin is now most recognized for his quick quips (bad puns), flashy (“unique”) style of dressing, and his wisdom (considerable age).
Mike Moody is the co-founder of Permanent RCRD Studios, a podcast studio in Austin, TX. A former entertainment journalist and TV critic, Mike works as a publications editor and podcast producer in Austin, and he’s the co-host the TV review podcasts Mr. Robot, Oh! and Star Trek Discovery Pod. https://about.me/mike.moody
.
Grant Davis is the co-founder of Permanent RCRD Studios podcast studio in Austin, Tx. He is host of ‘The TV Dudes’ podcast, producer on ‘Beach Cop Detectives’, and cohost on ‘Star Trek Discovery Pod’, ‘Low Cut’, ‘Rage Select’, and the award-winning ‘The Beerists Podcast’. He probably does too many podcasts.
.
Les Weiler enjoys television to a stunning degree, along with various movies of questionable cultural value. His 90s college education left him woefully unprepared for the real job of the future: curating a social media presence. He has not played a video game in this millennium, and can be heard on The TV Dudes podcast, The Good Die Young podcast, and elsewhere.
.
Maria-Elisa Heg is an illustrator, cartoonist, and an organizer with Zine Fest Houston. A Houston resident since 2005, she’s dedicated over half a decade to cultivating the zine community in Houston and beyond. she loves early music, tacos, chasing her cat, and doodling. She is currently a MA candidate in the Arts Leadership program at the University of Houston. http://www.ohdonteven.com/
.
Karen Segars is the Lead Level Architect at Arkane’s Austin Studio. She graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2002 with a B.F.A in Computer Animation and a minor in Photography. In 2003, she moved to Austin and has helped create the environments for various games over the past 14 years including Metroid Prime 3 (Retro Studios/Nintendo), Blacksite: Area 51 (Midway Studios), and DC Universe (Sony Online Entertainment). Since joining Arkane in 2015 she has helped create the vast levels of the Talos Space station in Prey as well as the Moon base for the recently released DLC MoonCrash.
SJ Mueller is the Creative Director for Daybreak Game Company’s award-winning massively multiplayer online action game, DC Universe Online. SJ lead the development of over 30 story-driven content updates and several gameplay systems that immerse players in their own super-heroic or villainous adventures. SJ has written for and voice-directed over 200 iconic DC characters including many that had never been voiced before. Other titles SJ has contributed to include KingsIsle’s Wizard101 and Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic. SJ is active with the online gaming and comic book communities on social media and at conventions.
Kevin Garcia is an Austin-area educator and a freelance writer who has worked with the Associated Press and on the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe for Marvel Comics. He’s given a variety of workshops, and welcomes feedback of all kinds.
.
.
David (D.S.) Cohen is writer, producer, designer, and educator. He has worked in many different facets of development and publishing for companies such as Warner Bros., Disney, National Geographic, Oddword, Mattel, and many others. In 2009 he wrote the book, Producing Games (as D.S. Cohen). Currently, David is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Texas at Austin, School of Design and Creative Technologies’ Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies, where he teaches courses in Narrative Design, Game Design, and Game History.
