Following the Path of Comics

Local area comic artist, Eric Taylor, has been involved in comics since he was a child, creating many mini-comics about his pear-characters, Eek & Meek, drawing issues of the college-with-vampires series 'Teeth' with writer Greg Boxer, and now will embark on the next stage of his career by attending cartoonist Tom Hart's year-long program, the Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW), in Gainesville, Florida, this fall. 

"I met Tom Hart last year when he gave a lecture at the University of Iowa about his own life as a professional cartoonist. It wasn't until I was attending the Minneapolis Indie Expo (MIX) later that year that I found a flier about SAW and became interested."

SAW provides workshops and semester/year-long courses for aspiring comic creators. Each day the student takes a two-hour class with indie-renowned artists Tom Hart, Leela Corman, and others, and then are tasked to create and produce their own graphic novels. However, unlike the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) in White River Junction, VT, SAW is not an MFA program, rather the 'focus is on you, the artist'. 

Taylor, 24, who graduated from Luther College, commented on his choice of not pursuing the graduate school path. "Though I would never take back my college experience, I didn't want further accreditation. I found that college didn't teach me about a life in comics; instead college taught me how to continue in college."

Having already begun to pursue a professional career in comics by attending regional comic conventions, Taylor's future goals are to keep doing what he's doing, creating and publishing his work. 

"My ideas of publishing stem from a deep desire to share my art and a healthy DIY attitude. Publishing in a sense is simply putting it out there and not only can everyone do it, but everyone should as well."

You can follow Taylor's progress by visiting his website: http://southsprings.net/