PR: Small Press Expo Announces Comics Workshops At Visarts

 

Come and attend four comics workshops!

SPX 2026 Announces Four In-Person Workshops In Partnership with Visarts. Small Press Expo is proud to present a series of four comics-focused workshops on September 5th and 6th, the weekend before the Expo. These classes are hosted by VisArts, a nonprofit organization and hub for artistic exploration and social impact located in Rockville, MD. Workshops will showcase local comics creators sharing skills in the areas of zine creation, comics writing, and character design. Please see the full schedule below! Signup links are at the end of each class. Spaces are limited. Small Press Expo will be held on September 12 and 13 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. There will be 24 Special Guests, 22 Panels, 18 Workshops and over 450 creators selling the best in indie comics. Banner by Sanika Phawde. Workshop Location: Visarts 155 Gibbs Street Rockville, MD 20850 Parking is available nearby. 0.5 miles from the Rockville Metro. Google Map WORKSHOPS with Signup Links Classes cost either $20 or $30 Saturday September 5, 2026 11am - 2pm: Intro to Zine Making Course Description: In this class, students will engage the art of free expression through self-publishing by exploring a mobile library of zines, minicomics, and DIY publications, learning several book-making techniques. Students will develop a concept from start to print for the creation of their own black and white zine. Instructor: Adam Griffiths is a cartoonist and arts administrator based in the Washington, DC area. He has exhibited his work at Transformer, Rhizome DC, Strathmore Mansion and Washington Project for the Arts. Griffith runs DwightMess, a comics 'compound' that includes several exhibition galleries, a Riso studio and screen-printing workshop, along with an extensive comics/zine library. Cost: $30.00 Sign Up: https://canvas.visartscenter.org/classes/418. Saturday September 5, 2026  3pm - 5pm: Autobio Comics Course Description: This class will explore how paying attention to the everyday can feed our creativity and comics practice, whether students are interested in making mini comics, diary comics, or any other kind of narrative. The emphasis will be on play and practice as the class looks at exercises relevant to autobiography generally and comics specifically. Instructor: Athena (she/they) is a cartoonist originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin now living and working in Washington, D.C. Her autobiographical comics have been featured in Nat. Brut and The Washington Post, and in 2021 she received an Honorable Mention for the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Cupcake Award. Their self-published comic "Nino" won the 2026 Cartoonist United Minicomics Award in Nonfiction. Cost: $20.00 Sign Up: https://canvas.visartscenter.org/classes/419  Sunday September 6th, 2026 11am - 2pm: Character Design Course Description: This class is for those interested in creating their own characters for writing into stories, comics, or games. In this workshop, you’ll put together your own characters in collage form before drawing your own original character from the front, back, and sides. By the time the workshop is done, you’ll have at least one fully-designed character that you can use in a creative project of your choice.  Instructor: Nami Oshiro, an arts educator and illustrator creating drawings, paintings, and comics that play with everyday absurdities experienced by people with unique relationships to societal constructs. Cost: $30.00 Sign Up: https://canvas.visartscenter.org/classes/420  3pm - 5pm: Hometown Histories Course Description: In this hands-on class, you’ll explore how comics can be used to capture memories and observations from the place you grew up (e.g., small moments, local characters, familiar landmarks, and scenes that reveal something about a time and place.) Through guided exercises, you’ll learn how to distill a bit of hometown history into a four-panel comic. Instructor: Olivier Ballou works as a creative director in Washington, DC. He creates history comics about his Quebec hometown. His first comic “Val-d’Or Néon” was shortlisted for the 2024 Doug Wright graphic novel award. Cost: $20.00 Sign Up: https://canvas.visartscenter.org/classes/421 Copyright © 2026 Small Press Expo, All rights reserved.   You are getting this email because you have a table at SPX 2025!  Our mailing address is:  Small Press Expo P.O. Box 5704 Bethesda, Maryland 20824

Small Press Expo | P.O. Box 5704 | Bethesda, MD 20824 US