Better Pontiac Crowdfunding for Comic Book Art Program

Better Pontiac Crowdfunding for Comic Book Art Program
(Better Pontiac, Jan. 5, 2016)
Pontiac, MI – Better Pontiac has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the platform Indiegogo in order to generate funds for a local comic book art workshop in Downtown Pontiac.
Better Pontiac Nonprofit is organizing the second semester of the Comic Workshop for Developing Artists- A program dedicated to nurturing local talent in Pontiac. The program is free for participants.
Better Pontiac is a nonprofit, 501 C3 organization dedicated to the improvement, enrichment, and promotion of the City of Pontiac, Michigan. Its board is comprised of residents, business owners, and concerned activists who would like to see Pontiac become a center of art, culture, and economic development, with thriving neighborhoods and schools.
Under the direction of artist, writer, and comic book publisher Mark Dudley, the program is designed to help aspiring artists hone their skills, collaborate with peers, and produce a published product at the end of the semester. These are valuable steps in a developing person’s career, that can be highly valuable in an artist’s portfolio.
The Comic Book Workshop is an initiative of Better Pontiac that engages young artists seeking to develop their drawing and storytelling skills. Every Saturday morning during the first scheduled semester, the artists gathered in the Artists’ Lounge, next to the Alley Cat Café in Downtown Pontiac to discuss ideas, hone their skills, and share their work. It has developed into a solid core of attendees who are each seeking the next step in their early careers as artists: to be published.
The second semester of the Comic Book Workshop is dedicated to further honing the skills of the artists and achieving the goal of publishing their work in an anthology. This represents a valuable achievement on the young artist’s path and can serve to be the cornerstone in a developing portfolio of work.
The second semester will begin Saturday, January 9th and last for 12 weeks, ending March 26th and take place in the Artists’ Lounge, located at 31 N. Saginaw in Downtown Pontiac from 9am to Noon. Every Saturday will be dedicated to artists showing their work to the group and receiving feedback on their scripts, artwork, and panels. By the last day (April 2) the artists are expected to have a completed one to two page comic that will be included in the published anthology. Artists who are interested have the opportunity to take leadership roles in the editing and publishing process.
Additionally, fostering local talent helps keep our City thriving- encouraging the arts, creating opportunities and positive relationships, as well as populating the cafes and increasing pedestrian traffic are all things that our town needs to develop into a social, cultural, and economic hub.
Please consider supporting our project so that artists in Pontiac have an opportunity for success. Donors can access the crowdfunding site here.
At the conclusion of the semester, participants will submit their completed comic short stories to be published in a comic anthology. Numerous copies will be printed and distributed in the metropolitan area.

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