More information here.

Thanks again to Athena Currier for the wonderful poster for the event.

More information here.

Thanks again to Athena Currier for the wonderful poster for the event.

(Above image by Athena Currier)

March 24th, 2013 is the date for the third annual Mini-Comics Day, celebrating the art of cartooning and creating hand-made comic books (the first event was held April 9th, 2011).

On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.

Mini-comics have been democratizing the art of making comic books since the 70′s or earlier… with the popularization of photocopiers, it became apparent that anyone with an inclination and some spare change could print a little comic book. Wildly varying in both form and content, mini-comics are a wonderful synthesis of cartooning and hand-made art objects.

Guidelines: To participate, create a mini-comic from start to finish on March 24th, 2013 (including writing, drawing and printing it). You can make your mini-comic by yourself or with other artists.

Format: Your mini-comic can be any size, length and format you desire. A standard mini-comics size would be eight 4.25″x5.5″ pages (which can be made from one 8.5×11 sheet of paper printed on both sides).

Help: For more information on how to make a mini-comic, see the Cartoonist Conspiracy’s mini-comic tutorial How to Make Mini-Comics. More resources can be found here.

Submit: Optionally, you can post information and/or images from your comic on this blog. Contact for an account to post here.

Bonus points: If you are working with a group of cartoonists, you may want to consider collecting your mini-comics together to distribute as a set. Bags, rubber bands, or boxes all work great for this purpose.

Events: Mini-Comics Day events will be organized at different locations around the world. You can read more about how to organize an event in our FAQ. The purpose of Mini-Comics Day events is to provide a place for cartoonists to draw and/or print their comics, and possibly to trade or sell their minis if they choose to.

If you would like to organize an event, contact us at so we can promote your event and add it to our event listing.

About The International Cartoonist Conspiracy: Founded in Minneapolis in 2002, The International Cartoonist Conspiracy is a loosely organized group of cartoonists with cells all over the world. The Conspiracy has been responsible for many collaborative projects, including anthologies, gallery shows, and numerous jams every month. Any cartoonist anywhere can start a cell, and anyone with a desire to draw comics is encouraged to participate.

Here is the poster for the Minneapolis event by last year’s Stapler Award Winner for best Mini-Comics Day Mini-Comic, Athena Currier:

Besides the annual comic art show at Altered Esthetics in November 2013, there are a number of other open calls for art for shows coming up on their calendar this year that I imagine will have great appeal to cartoonists (like the show about BEER for one thing)… check out the full list with details and deadlines here.

February/March: Straight Trippin’
April: Brewers’ Craft and Coloring Outside the Lines VI – Blast Off!
May: [Insert Title Here]
June: Bike Art VIII
July: Physique & Technique
August: Time Honored
September: Fabled
October: Knock on Wood
November: Día de los Muertos and Comic Art
December: Knot What it Seams

Conspirator Dr. Dan McNamara (founder of the currently inactive Mini-Comics Co-op) has successfully funded his kickstarter to tell the world about nematodes using cutting-edge pamphlet technology. That, however, does not mean you will not want to support his noble efforts. You still have a week to support his cause. Go here to learn more, and illuminate yourself by viewing the video below.

From conspirator Ken Avidor comes the following invitation (read the full post here):

Attention, Fellow Twin Cities Urban Sketchers!

We will be sketching at the Union Depot in Lowertown, Saint Paul on December 8th to sketch the historic opening of the magnificent , newly restored landmark. There will be plenty of time to sketch and we will be photographing everyone’s masterpieces at the end of the day for the blog. More details to come here and at the Metro Sketchers Facebook page.

Learn more about the event at the Union Depot Facebook page and Ramsey County Regional Rail News.

Stay tuned for more info.

The CAKE festival in Chicago is now taking exhibitor applications. Info here.

Above: 24 Hour Comics Day Minneapolis 2012 Poster by Carlos Merino… click on it for a larger version… click here for a version you can download, print and distribute.

24 hours. Draw 24 pages of comics— or have fun in the attempt.

This is a FREE event- No need to sign up. Please note that table space is first come, first served, though. (Please help us spread the word out there, thanks!)

Here is Carlos’ summary of the event:

Nutshell: Take no more than 24 hours to draw 24 pages of comics.

It’s a dare and a creative exercise. It won’t be your best comic, but it will be among your longest comics.

You are not supposed to think of an idea beforehand.

Some bring a randomizer tool to ensure the idea will be thought up that day. (For example: Pick seven random words from a dictionary — put them all in your comic’s plot.)

You can prepare your materials beforehand. You can line boxes onto your paper and such.

Wet Paint of St. Paul will have a store there for the first few hours, so you can fill in materials you forgot to bring.

Consider working smaller than you usually do. 24 pages is a lot of ground to cover in 24 hours.

Minneapolis version is at MCBA and starts at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Come a little early to get there before the starting bell.

Spending 24 hours in one place can be difficult. Bring snacks, beverages, personal entertainment/distraction devices, a cushion for sitting, a toothbrush.

Bring snacks for others, if you wish. There’ll be a table or two to hold community snack items.

MCBA has a wifi network. It’s better than nothing, but there are ever-more computers showing up at the event, and that seems to slow down the wifi.

There are not many outlets. If you are bringing lots of electronic companions, consider bringing a power strip.

Many people finish by the 17-hour mark (2 or 3 in the morning) and go home. That’s okay. Many people quit before finishing. That’s okay, too.

We’re all in the room together, but except for pizza time, it’s not really a chit-chatty, loud-music social event. Words of encouragement, however are always welcome.

Thanks much to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts for providing us with the best imaginable space for this event to take place in!

Thanks much to the Midwest Comic Book Association for providing us with free late night pizza!

Thanks much to Wet Paint Art for providing some free supplies for folks to use (note: you will still want to bring your own supplies)!

Minneapolis 24 Hour Comics Day blog

Kevin Cannon’s How To Survive 24 Hour Comics Day tips

24 Hour Comics Day Tweeting http://twitter.com/#!/24hourcomicday

24 Hour Comics Day International Event’s Official Site

24 Hour Comics Day Minneapolis Event on Facebook

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
1011 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Contact: Cartoonist Conspiracy
Email: 24hourcomicday@gmail.com
Web: http://24-hourcomic.blogspot.com/
Event Date & Start Time: Our event starts October 20th, 2012 at 10 AM

We are looking for a few more volunteers to help us put our upcoming Lutefisk Sushi Volume E event together (reminder… deadline this Saturday September 15th!). Specifically, we are looking for:

- A person to help promote the event online, ideally someone who digs using the social networking stuff the kids seem to like using these days.
- A person to help make signs for the event
- A person to coordinate food for the event

We’ll also want additional help with collating the boxes when the time comes… but it is usually pretty easy to find people for that.

Thanks for considering helping out.

To volunteer, please contact lmcginty(at)alteredesthetics.org

The Lutefisk Sushi Volume E Deadline is in Less Than Two Weeks!

And, gee… that is really more than enough time to get something together! We’re not building the freaking Taj Mahal, here! I’ve seen mini-comics masterpieces drawn and printed in under eight hours! What the hell are you freaking out about? Don’t make me slap you! I swear, I’ll do it!

We want your mini-comics!*

To participate:
-Draw, print and deliver 160 copies of a mini-comic (any format) to Altered Esthetics before September 15th.
-Show up for the opening gallery celebration November 2nd at Altered Esthetics and have a good time.

That’s it. All submissions are accepted until the unlikely event that we can no longer cram them into a box. Every person who submits 160 mini-comics gets a box.**

Lutefisk Sushi is a hand-silkscreened, limited-edition box set of Minnesota mini-comics. This is the fifth edition… previous editions have contained between 35 and 55 comics each. This year’s featured artist and box-cover creator is Eisner-Award-winning cartoonist Zander Cannon (Double Barrel, Top 10, Chainsaw Vigilante).

Read more about submission details here.

* You must be Minnesotan to particiapte.
** limit one per artist regardless of number of works submitted, and artists who team to create a comic must share a box