Want to Teach Art?

I've been teaching comics at Harlem Children's Zone for almost a year and wanted to share some of my experiences with you.  I lead an after-school comics program for high school and middle school students 4 days a week, with a focus on entrepreneurship.  In the picture above, the students are selling the mini comics they created at the end-of-semester event in December, and donated all proceeds to charities as an "act of kindness" (which is the HCZ theme for the year).  Throughout the fall, it was great seeing the stories the kids came up with, watching them learn to fold the mini comics, get excited about games we played like "The Price Is Right" (to learn about pricing their mini comic products), and much more.  We threw a pizza party for the middle school club, who raised the most money (almost $50 for the Red Cross!), and reflected on their experiences selling their comics.  The students said it felt good to show other people their artwork and make sales.  I could go on forever about how awesome it is teaching these kids, but I'd like the focus of this blog to give you tips if you want to get started teaching comics or any kind of art.  

Some of the high school mini comics!  These comics are one sheet of paper, folded like origami, to make 8 pages.

Want to Teach Art?

1.  Have a college degree

If you want a more stable, long-term teaching job, this is essential.  I started out teaching comic workshops at MoCCA (Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art) and private tutoring, which was great for experience.  However, if you want to move to the next level and teach consistently for a part-time job, you must have some kind of college degree.  It doesn't even have to be an art-related degree or a master's.  The main goal of our program at HCZ is to get kids to college, so it's important for all employees to experience college.  Sometimes artists think they can get by without an official degree, and while that may work in some cases, not having a degree will really limit you in the future, even if you can't see it now.

2.  Have great communication skills

Not all artists can be good teachers.  Sometimes it's difficult to even explain what we're doing, let alone explain everything step-by-step to another person and guide them to create a complete project.  If you have an interest in teaching, but feel you may need to "level-up" in this area, watch YouTube art demos or Envato Tuts+ tutorials (a fantastic resource) and study how the presenters break down the material step-by-step.  

3.  Like and/or can relate to kids/teens

This may sound obvious, but we've all come across some teachers in our lives that probably made us wonder why they chose that profession.  Teaching isn't for everyone, and to weather the chaotic times, you've got to have a firm grounding in caring about the students.  I find that I relate to the high schoolers by remembering some of my high school experiences, and the middle schoolers and I can bond over animations we like (Dragon Ball Z is STILL popular!  And hey I still know about Pokemon!).

Hope you find this helpful.  Applying for arts teaching jobs will have other specific components, but I think these 3 points are universal.  The arts have been cut drastically from the public school system, but they are much needed for youth development.  There are many teaching opportunities in cities, and if there aren't many where you live, MAKE them!  If you really want to be an arts teacher, reach out to some organizations in your area and see if they'd be open to incorporating an arts element to their programs. 

Happy President's Day from (D)(R)!  When's the last time you went to a library?

FREEZER CHALLENGE

Let's be honest, when was the last time you cleaned out your freezer?  When food goes bad in the fridge it's easier to tell, but it can lurk in the freezer - hiding - waiting - for years undiscovered.  I moved to my current place in September and bought all new food.  There was another girl already living there so some food was already in the freezer.  Wasn't until now that I decided to do a freezer clean sweep and check everything.  Found something from 2008!  SEVEN years ago!  Proof:

Posting this on 2/27/15.  Nope, it's not Photoshopped - I wouldn't bother to blog about it if it was.

The white crackle marks on the package are from the wrapper ink peeling off, not icicles. 

Let's have a contest - if anyone cleans out their freezer and can find something that's older than October 2008, send me a picture and I'll mail you one of my mini comics of your choice for free!  Either that or you can write your own Daily Misfortune and I'll feature it with your credits!  Ready?  GO!

Send pictures to mindy@mindyindy.com by April 1st 2015.

Philly Zine Fest was Phenominal!

My day trip to Philly for The Philly Zine Fest was awesome!  Only 2 hours by bus from NYC (very short compared to Boston, Baltimore, or DC!).  Everyone was friendly and it was great to see what other zinesters are up to!  There were some political zines, feminist zines, mini comics, and lots more!  I shared a table with Werdy Girl who made both comics and zines and was really nice!

The Rotunda venue was really cool with murals near the ceiling, and was a cozy space.  The size was in-between Pete's Mini Zine Fest and Brooklyn Zine Fest.  I sold some of my mini comics and a few prints.  I didn't do any drawings like at comic conventions, but it was nice to focus on the mini comics for a change, and to see people really liking them and talking about them.  Because even though at the larger shows I make $ mostly from "drawing anything," I only sell a few mini comics because they're not the main focus.  And the table cost at PZF was only $6, which took the pressure off and made everything more laid back. 

Dre Grigoropol (right) and her mural outside Locust Moon Comics, with Mindy Indy.

Afterwards, I went to get a Philly cheese steak with fellow cartoonist Dre Grigoropol and friends!  DELISH!  Then some of us went by a mural Dre had painted in the windows outside Locust Moon Comics!

Another part of Dre's mural, featuring her character "Dee" from her comic "Dee's Dream" (which is awesome!)  Dee has the same hairstyle as me!  Hey, she's even left-handed too!

Locust Moon is the coolest comic store I've ever been to!  Artsy murals cover most walls, they have a big gallery space (featuring their new "Little Nemo" exhibit), even a couch in the front for a reading area, a big tv in the back (playing Family Guy at the time), an aquarium, a porch outside, and they had indie stuff in the front rather than the back.  Not to mention the whole store is huge!  Sometimes getting out of NYC is a good thing... reminds me how life is in other places that actually have space.

Then back to NYC on a late bus - so tired!  Great trip, but I need to go back to see all the other cool historic Philly stuff!  Oh and I didn't make it to Jersey for Super Heroes for Hospice Saturday because I didn't feel well, but luckily it cleared up in time for the Philly trip.

Boston Comic Con THIS WEEKEND!

Hey y'all!  I just took Bolt Bus into Boston and am exhibiting in the Boston Comic Con this weekend!  Actually it starts Friday - it's 3 days long this year!  Friday, Saturday, Sunday August 8 - 10, 2014  |  Seaport World Trade Center  |  200 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA http://www.bostoncomiccon.com You can get tickets here.  Just checked out the site (yes I'm IN the freakin' convention and only now just looked at the site) and Sean Astin from LOTR is going to be there!  There's also a cool panel on web comics that I'd like to see if I can get away from drawing.

Oh yeah and last weekend Pete's Mini Zine Fest was awesome!  A cute venue and cool people.  My friend Rachel published her first poetry zine and sold some!  It was nice to focus on the mini comics because I usually have so much stuff at my table... sometimes they get overlooked. 

Yes this happened today.  Luckily it only got on the cover and not inside THANK GOD. 

Also yeah... biweekly misfortune...?  Been so busy apartment hunting and stuff that it does get away from me :/

AER HEAD promo!

In preparation for this year's New York Comic Con, I've made some mini comic previews of AER HEAD!  This is the first time AER HEAD has been in print, so I'm super excited!  The mini comic includes a cover, the first 5 pages of AER HEAD, and 2 promo pages at the end for the comic itself and mindy indy as an artist.  I printed them at a local printer, and the cost came to about $1 per mini comic, which is a great price.  I'll only give these out to a few key people at comic con, whereas I'll give my business cards away like candy because those are super cheap to print in bulk if you know where to look.

Creating this promo page was a snap, due to my years of experience as a graphic designer.  Yes, I will make AER HEAD #1 in 2012, ideally before the big San Diego Comic Con in the summer, but aiming for as soon as possible.  I have a facebook page, if you haven't seen that already.  And I'm going to start using twitter more.  I haven't really used it, because it seemed annoying, and I don't want people stalking me, but I need to use it for professional purposes now.  The name mindyindy was already taken on twitter, so I had to go with mindy_indy.  Hopefully that won't confuse people.  Check mindy_indy for frequent updates when I'm at the NYCC!  I don't have a booth, because I don't have products to sell, but I'll just be walking around everywhere going to various panels about the business of publishing and such.

The back cover promotes mindy indy (aka Mindy Steffen, that's me) as an artist.  Since I do coloring work for Marvel, I feel like I have a leg up this year at the comic con, and hopefully that can lead to more coloring work.  I don't want to limit myself to just that, though, so I put pretty much everything I can do related to comics and illustration.

Just had an idea... Would anyone be interested in buying an AER HEAD mini comic?  If so, I can print more.  You can write a post or send me an email and we can work it out :)  Excitement!!