We are pumped to be kicking off our second ever Toolkits: Graphic Narratives program with 8 talented young artists from across Australia. During this 12-week intensive, these artists will explore the many and varied formats of graphic storytelling. Participants will both learn the applications of graphic storytelling and discuss the history and innovations of this unique literary practice. Toolkits: Graphic Narratives will cover a strong foundation in the familiar, such as comic strips, graphic novels, and manga, but isn’t afraid to branch into the experimental.

Toolkits: Graphic Narratives will be facilitated by Mira Schlosberg. Mira will lead the program’s fortnightly online sessions and workshops, providing one-on-one mentorship during the alternating weeks, and support these artists with individualised feedback.

For more information on our Toolkits and Toolkits: Live program (which you can participate in right now!) visit our website.

But for now, say hello to the class of 2020!

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T-Dog eXtreme (Lauren Temos)

The official legal and baptised name is T-Dog eXtreme, yes you can and should believe everything on the internet. I’m queer, and art is a neat thing. This vague in and of itself is art.

I’ve made a game called Symposium of Grief that people seem to like. It got nominated for a few awards here and there, I got to showcase it in many places, and there are a few youtube videos of people playing and talking about it, which is genuinely bizarre and simultaneously exciting. People found that the game was relatable and emotional and also funny, despite literally being called, effectively, “discussion of sad”.

My interest in games gives me an edge in all my illustration, in that every drawing I do I’m like, “oh, I could make this a game,” and then I never do. Art.

Jac Gelbart

​Jac has always liked to draw. In fact, as a child he liked to draw so much he’d do it anywhere he could- on napkins, on the back of homework sheets, and on his own arms and legs with a pen he kept in his pocket. This wasn’t very good behaviour in school, so Jac began carrying around a sketchbook to draw in, and he drew pictures that people thought were quite nice, and then those people decided that Jac drawing all the time wasn’t disruptive, it was imaginative. And so he started getting called an artist.

Jac now works as an illustrator for Be Your Best Academy, an educational organization run by and for neurodiverse individuals.

In his own time he enjoys creating and designing strange creatures and fun characters.

When he isn’t drawing, Jac is usually struggling to write an artist bio, watching a cartoon, or on an internet dive about a strange deep sea creature.

​Jac can be found online at www.jacgelbart.com and on social media as @chromichromi

Tahlia Kristjansson

Tahlia Kristjansson is an artist from Brisbane. She has illustrated for The Tundish Review and is the art director of Gum Magazine.

Celeste Stein

Celeste Stein is an architecture graduate and artist. She works in drawing; using sculpture, video and installation as an extension of her practice. Her work is heavily influenced by her architectural background and skills. She is also interested in self-publishing, zines, and accessible forms of art, such as risographing. She enjoys making poetic work, often interweaving text and maintaining intimate subject matter. During the pandemic, she is mostly interested in drawing comics and writing letters.

Mandy Disilvestro

Also known as alienmandy, Mandy is an Italian/Venezuelan animator and illustrator currently based in Melbourne. She graduated from RMIT’s Bachelor of Design (Animation and Interactive Media) in 2019, and is currently in her first year for the Masters of Teaching at Monash.

Her favourite things to do include reading, working on zines, and watching tokusatsu shows, as well as drawing her OCs.

Will King (W.D King)

William King is a working class visual storyteller based in Central West NSW. 

William tells autobiographical stories of his un-idyllic but adventure filled childhood and misspent youth, as well as stories inspired by the trials and tribulations faced by his peers trying to survive day to day life when classed as ‘undesirables’.

His work has been referred to by UK based comics author Daniel Bristow-Bailey as “stories you would hear from some geezer down the pub” .

Juliette Baxter

Juliette Baxter is an early twenty-something artist/ designer/ illustrator/ writer studying Visual Arts and Asian Studies at the ANU. Originally from Melbourne, she grew up all over the place, in China, Malaysia and Qatar, but currently lives in Canberra. A novice rock climber/ boulderer, as well as a big fan of running, swimming, cycling, and talking, she is not great at sitting still or keeping quiet.

Naomi Segal

Naomi Segal is a chinese-australian artist and (shy) writer who wants to make comics to cultivate interior journeys toward her self-recovery and -acceptance. She is buoyed by life-sustaining queer friendships & texts, and the experiences of loving and being loved that visit her everyday life. Pre- pandemic, her ideas took form in installations that incorporated raw materials (stones, abalone shells), poetry, letters and heat transfers – but her next big obsession is graphic narrative. Naomi’s zines/installations have appeared at the MCA Zine Fair, Other Worlds Zine Fair, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Wollongong Art Gallery, Peacock Gallery, Firstdraft and more. She is also chipping away at a Bachelor of Art Theory and Asian Studies at UNSW. This year she returned from studies in Singapore and is now based on unceded Dharug and Gundungurra land.