Category Archives: Events
Autoptic Festival in Minneapolis Now Accepting Exhibitor Submissions! Also, Location Announced!
Mark Your Calendars: Participate in Mini-Comics Day 2013 on March 24th!
(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:
Come Jam in Minneapolis Thursday, February 7th
The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.
Generally, we draw collaborative “jam†comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.
The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).
Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.
Beta Testing Civilization at Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis January 24th
BETA TESTING CIVILIZATION
TOM KACZYNSKI
ZAK SALLY . VINCENT STALL . DAN WIEKEN . DEREK VAN GIESON . PETER WARTMAN
You’re invited to celebrate, with cartoonist / publisher Tom Kaczynski, the release of his book Beta Testing the Apocalypse (Fantagraphics) and the unveiling of the Uncivilized Books’ Five Year Plan. He also invited the entire Twin Cities Uncivilized Books artist roster. We know you won’t mind. Many copies of Beta Testing The Apocalypse have been specially released from the bunker and a commemorative red ink will be used in authorizing your copies. After the event, there will be mandatory fun at the Downtown Grumpy’s.
THURSDAY JANUARY, 24. 2013
5 TO 7 PMBIG BRAIN COMICS
1027 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55415 (612) 338-4390
Autopic Festival in Twin Cities Announced… Mark Your Calendars for August 18th
So they’ve announced Autoptic, which manages a bunch of things roaring out of the gate: 1) the obvious involvement on some level of local art-comics anchor personalities Zak Sally, Tom Kaczynski and Anders Nilsen; 2) putting a show in the Twin Cities, which is a great part of the country and a great comics region; 3) finding a slightly different model for a show, which allows it a unique identity and doesn’t obliterate the chances that previous Minneapolis shows could return if they wanted; 4) picking a great time of the year that is both open in terms of small press stuff (particularly with fewer of those folks doing San Diego) and a great time of the year to head up to that region. If they execute the rest of this thing this well, watch out.
Come Jam in Minneapolis Thursday, January 3rd
The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.
Generally, we draw collaborative “jam†comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.
The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).
Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.
Happy Tenth Birthday to Us! Come Celebrate at the Jam Tonight in Minneapolis! (December 6th)
Holy cow! It’s our tenth anniversary! Let’s draw, yes?
Comics from our first jam in December 2002 can be seen here.
The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.
Generally, we draw collaborative “jam†comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.
The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).
Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.
Come To Our 10th Anniversary Jam in Minneapolis Thursday December 6th!
Holy cow! It’s our tenth anniversary! Let’s draw, yes?
Comics from our first jam in December 2002 can be seen here.
The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.
Generally, we draw collaborative “jam†comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.
The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).
Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.
Urban Sketchers Sketch-Out for the Grand Opening of the Saint Paul Union Depot December 8th
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.