Calling all Blak and deadly comic artists!

IndigenousX’s first ComiX Competition is now accepting submissions

IndigenousX is looking to unearth Indigenous comic illustrators whose work seeks to redefine how our mob are represented in media and society.

The winner will receive 3 mentorship sessions with Cleverman creator Ryan Griffen and Gestalt Comics editor-in-chief Wolf Bylsma.

“I’m extremely excited to see what talent our people have in the comic world,” says Cleverman creator Ryan Griffen. “Cleverman has always been about building black talent and empowering our people and to have the chance to do that with Comics is amazing. Our culture is built around the arts and comics is just another way to express ourselves in a modern setting.”

“Comics are the greatest storytelling medium in the world, and story is what drives us and provides each of us with a greater context to understand ourselves and each other,” says Gestalt comics Wolf Bylsma. “Everyone has a story, and every storytelling voice is important. In Australia, we have a great many voices deserving of greater recognition, and Gestalt strives to ensure more of those voices are heard.”

The mentorship sessions will comprise:

• An introductory meeting/call to discuss your project and/or career pathway.
• A professional folio review session and feedback on storytelling techniques
• Follow up to review progress and provide any additional guidance and direction.

PLUS signed Cleverman swag and IndigenousX streetwear from Redbubble.

PLUS all entrants will have their work displayed on the IndigenousX website and social media channels. (* Artist will retain all rights to their work in perpetuity)

Submissions are open from June 1 to July 6, and should be sent to [email protected] . Submission should include:

• Up to three individual panels of work in jpeg file format
• A high-res passport-style photograph of the artist
• A concise four-line biography that tells us about you and your traditional nation/mob
• Up to date contact details that includes email address, social media handles, telephone number and street address
• A two paragraph description of the idea behind your work. This may take the form of a story synopsis, a character description, or a brief cultural theory-informed thesis on the importance of Blackfullas creating their own comics heroes. It’s your call!

IndigenousX founder Luke Pearson says he’s very proud to be launching the project and partnering with Ryan and Wolf, whose work he has long admired: “IndigenousX exists to provide new opportunities for mob and we hope this project will help lead to uncovering more talented artists and storytellers and more Indigenous comics and superheroes, as well as more opportunities for IndigenousX to branch out into these additional areas of storytelling.”

The winner will be announced from the @IndigenousX Twitter account at 9pm on Monday 10 July.

BACKGROUND

Gestalt Comics is Australia’s leading independent comics publisher. Founded in 2005, Gestalt have assisted in establishing international careers for some of our country’s leading comics talent, and helped change the nature of the comics industry in Australia. Gestalt is perhaps best known for their all-ages graphic novel series, The Deep (now a worldwide hit TV series), as well as being the subject of an ABC TV documentary, Comic Book Heroes, that showcased their efforts to take Australian comics talent to the global stage.
http://www.gestaltcomics.com/

Cleverman series creator Ryan Griffen joined the film industry straight after obtaining his Bachelor of Communications, majoring in Media Arts and Production at UTS. Since then he has participated in the online component of the Digital Emmy winning, Scorched and is a recipient of the AFC (Screen Australia) Producers Initiative program. Ryan has worked at the ABC across shows including Good Game, Playschool and Message Stick. Ryan’s goals in the industry are to bring the rebirth of Genre back to Australia. Inspired by 1950’s cinema all the way through to 80’s genre films, Ryan wants to tell similar stories to those he was drawn to growing up. Recently Ryan wrote and directed the short film, You Turn that received a special mention for writing at the Sydney Film Festival. He was a Director’s Attachment on two episodes of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Producer’s Intern on the box office hit film The Sapphires, also for Goalpost Pictures.
www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/cleverman/

IndigenousX was established in early 2012 to counteract a national dialogue that was characterised by a consistent lack of awareness, understanding and respect for Indigenous people. Our vision is to create a platform for Indigenous people to share their knowledge, opinions and experiences with a wide audience. The @IndigenousX twitter account was launched on the 15th of March 2012 an has grown to more than 30,000 followers. Over 250 Indigenous hosts on the account have shared thousands of stories, facts, reports, pictures, and laughs and now the IndigenousX website exists to provide our diverse range of First Nations collaborators with more space and opportunity to share their knowledge and perspectives. We pride ourselves on an ethic of respect for Indigenous knowledge, diversity and achievement. IndigenousX has raised awareness of countless issues, programs, stories, perspectives and organisations. IndigenousX actively challenges stereotypes of the Indigenous community by utilising the opportunities of the emerging digital ecosystem.
https://indigenousx.com.au/