Writer | Marvel

Vita Ayala is a writer based out of New York City.

Ayala is an alumni of the DC Talent Development Workshop; other credits include Batgirl, Batman Beyond,  Dark Horse Comics’ The Secret Loves of Geeks, Image Comics’ Bitch Planet and Twisted Romance, and the award-winning anthology Mine!: A celebration of liberty and freedom for all benefitting Planned Parenthood. Their mini series The Wilds,  a post apocalyptic SF tale with an LCGBTQ focus, came out from Black Mask earlier this year, and Submerged, about an adventure in a flooded NYC subway, came out from Vault.

Legendary Artist | Owner of Continuity Studios & Gallery | Alumni

Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Batman and Green Arrow and Marvel's X-Men; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, which became a publishing company and now a gallery in Manhattan, NY; and as a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Adams graduated from The School of Industrial Arts, know known as Art and Design High School, in 1959. After graduating he unsuccessfully attempted to find freelance work at DC Comics, and turned then to Archie Comics, where he wanted to work on the publisher's fledgling superhero line, edited by Joe Simon. At the suggestion of staffers, Adams drew "three or four pages of [the superhero] the Fly", but did not receive encouragement from Simon. Sympathetic staffers nonetheless asked Adams to draw samples for the Archie teen-humor comics themselves.

Animator | Filmmaker | Historian

Mark Bailey is an amateur animator, filmmaker hobbyist, and monster movie and bad film historian. He's been a longtime attendee of sci-fi, comic, and horror conventions and has successfully presented at EternalCon, BoroughCon, WinterCon, GFest, & ICon. He lives in the 6th borough of NYC Jersey City, New Jersey with his lovely and brilliant wife Kara and awesome cats.

Charles D. Chenet presents Dare2Draw Studios

About Dare2Draw: Dare2Draw is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit, educational and cultural organization dedicated to creating and supporting mentoring and networking opportunities for cartoonists of all levels; Cultivating the awareness of and appreciation for the study of sequential art; and the furtherance and preservation of the comic book medium's contributions to literacy, art, and culture, through outreach programs, events, and projects. 

More about website: https://dare2draw.org/

Author | DC Comics

Amy Chu is a comic book author who runs the comic imprint Alpha Girl Comics as well as writes comics for other publishers. She wrote the six-issue miniseries Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death and a few Wonder Woman issues for DC.

Artist | Magic The Gathering | SVA Professor

​Tristan Elwell’s illustrations have appeared on hundreds of book covers for every major publisher, as well as magazines, trading card games, and international advertising campaigns. HIs work has been featured in Print, Communication Arts, the Society of Illustrators annuals, and Spectrum, and won the ASFA Chesley Award for best paperback cover. He has had paintings exhibited in galleries in New York and Los Angeles, and at the United Nations.

Tristan teaches drawing, painting, and illustration classes the the School of Visual Arts. http://tristanelwell.com/

Fine Artist | Art Teacher

Victoria Febrer is a fine artist based in New York City. Her artwork has been exhibited in the United States, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Japan, with solo exhibitions in New York, Valencia and Madrid. Her works, focusing primarily on the landscape, use a variety of media to explore the way that the non-human elements exert their existence and connect us to history, time, and geography.

Victoria Febrer is a proud graduate of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a 2015 recipient of the American Association of Colleges & Universities K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders of Higher Education Award. As an educator, Victoria is committed to the vital role of visual art education as a force for lasting positive social change. She believes that a critical arts practice empowers us to not only to explore and appreciate the world we live in, but also to share our unique discoveries and points of view with our communities.

Victoria currently teaches “Art in Education” at the Teacher Education Department of the City University of New York, BMCC and works with the Center for Arts Education on the federally-funded Future Arts Initiative, a multi-year program to train District 29 art teachers to include contemporary art in their curriculum by using technology that supports the development of 21st century skills. She also currently teaches Portfolio Preparation classes at the 92nd Street Y Art Center.

Animator @ Titmouse

​I'm an artist and animator based out of New York City.  I've been animating since I was 12 and have always been drawn to make my doodles move.  My most recent work has been as an animator on Fox Network's Son Of Zorn and I completed my newest short film Death Sentence in February 2017.  I've also worked on several shows for Adult Swim, including Metalocalypse, Super Jail, and China IL.  As well as cable television, I have worked on projects for Netflix, Amazon, and Youtube.  I aspire to be a director in animation one day, and to bring my own creative ideas to the world.

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Check out my website at - http://www.chrissyfellmeth.com

Illustrator | FIT Professor

Trained as an illustrator and graphic designer, Ramon Gil likes to write, and sometimes draws, comic book stories. His favorite genres are science fiction and action/comedy. He is the creator of The Men from DARPA, The Hard Code, Truer Than Trousdale, Senturies and Scifies. He has also done work for Dynamite Entertainment, Source Point Press, Indie Comics Magazine, Stache Publishing, The Nerdist and Bleeding Cool. Aside from creating comics he enjoys organizing events for creators including workshops, panel discussions and Diversity Comic Con at FIT where he teaches. 

Legendary Artist | Creator of GI Joe | Alumni

Larry Hama is an American comic-book writer, artist, actor, and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s.

During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro toyline. He has also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.

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https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0357239/

Lawyer

Gamal is an experienced entertainment transactions attorney with an expertise in comic book publishing and comic IP licensing. During his career, he's represented major corporate clients including AfterShock, Amazon, Mad Cave Studios, and Marvel, as well as independent entertainment professionals and independent publishers. More about Gamal Hennessy: http://www.creativecontractconsulting.com/

2D Animator | Digital Game Developer

Shumaila Kanwal is a 2D animator and game developer. She is from a small town in Pakistan and is currently living in Ireland. She did her bachelors in Software Engineering. She also has a masters degree jn Multimedia Arts with a major in 2D animation. She moved to Ireland to pursue her passion and now she is working on a Masters in Creative Digital Media with a major in VR Games. 

She has been writing poems and has made an abstract animation on one of her poems. Her short thesis animation has been highly appreciated and screened in many countries including Brazil, Italy and USA.

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She spends her leisure time in painting, animating, digital drawing and composing poetry.

You can see her short abstract animation work here:

https://youtu.be/iFd40yv48QY

Editorial Director

Charles Kochman is the editorial director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the #1 bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. For over 30 years Kochman has edited several hundred books for all age groups, including award-winning picture books, retrospectives, monographs, graphic novels, and art book collections published by Abrams, DC Comics, MAD Magazine, Bantam Books, and Putnam. A member of the National Cartoonists Society, the Society of Illustrators, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Kochman lives in New York City.

Comic Book Illustrator | Co-President, The Kubert School

*SATURDAY ONLY*

Adam earned his degree in Medical Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of The Kubert School, having attended with his brother Andy. He, too, has been selected as one of the ten best artists in the field (WIZARD Magazine). After a short stint at DC, Adam has recently returned to his roots at Marvel and is currently drawing Astonishing Spider-Man Wolverine. Adam is next to the youngest son of Muriel and Joe Kubert.

Clients

 Marvel, DC

Characters

 Wolverine, Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, Incredible Hulk, Ghost Rider

FX Artist | Alumni

Born in Queens New York

In the late 70s and early 80s  Michael studied at the High School of Art & Design,  and School of Visual Arts collage in NYC 

A classically trained artist Michael started out at the young age of 10 working in stop-motion animation he quickly realized his true calling was make-up effects and by 18 he was assisting make-up artists like Ed French on TV series Takes from the Dark Side and films C.H.U.D. and The Stuff.

By 20 Michael was working with various make-up artists including Tom Savini. 

By 24 Michael relocated to L.A. where he landed work on films such as The Howeling 4 and The Blob.  And was one of the few Blob crew members to work on both the Creature crew and Make-up Effects crew.

He return back to New York in the early 90s and continued his career working on such films as Home Alone 2, Once Around, and Last Exit to Brooklyn to name a few.

By his early 30s Michael headed the make-up dept. for NBC's Saturday Night Live from ‘95-‘97

He continued doing film, television and theater traveling with shows like The Presidents starring Rich Little and was responsible for designing, fabricating and applying quick change prosthetics with an average change time of a 90 seconds!   He soon transitioned into into 3D animation for television shows such as Dr. G Medical Examiner and The Mysteris Of series. And for commercials such as Reynolds Wrap and Totino‘s Pizza Wrap commercials working in both professions simultaneously. 

He later went on to work on TV shows such as Mr. Robot and Younger and headed the makeup effects for season 3 and 4 of the TV series hit Gotham.  Designing and creating the makeup for some of their most iconic characters including  Penguin, Jerome and Firefly.  Simultaneously creating the aging of Julianne Moore for Todd Haynes’s stunning film adaptation of Brian Selznick’s best seller Wonderstruck.  And recently creating the aging makeup on Charlayne Woodard for M. Night Shyamalan’s highly anticipated film  Glass. 

Michael also creates and sells resin kits (garage kits) of classic monsters of the silver screen in his spare time. And has created a line of highly sought after life-like dinosaur puppet toys using his years of effects knowledge and talent through his online toy company Puppetoys. 

You can see all of Michael’s works by googling Michael Maddi or by visiting his sites directly. 

www.michaelmaddi.com
www.puppetoys.com
www.resininmotion.com
www.pushingclay.com

Artist | Marvel | Archie

Alitha E. Martinez is a comic book artist best known for her work drawing for Marvel's Iron Man, NBC's Heroes, and DC's Batgirl. Martinez has been working at Marvel Comics since the 90's when she got her first major gig as an assistant to Joe Quesada. She co-created the villain Knightfall in Batgirl #10.

CEO & Founder of NBM | Founder of PaperKutz

Inspired by the success of the graphic novel format in France, where one book in every five sold is a graphic novel, CEO and Publisher Terry Nantier decided to import this concept to the U.S. in the 1970s through the founding of NBM, at a time when comics for adults were a rarity. Becoming a leading indie comics press and one of the most highly respected houses in what has become known as “literary comics,” NBM has grown steadily ever since. In 2005, Terry recognized that the tides had turned and children’s comics had become a rarity; he founded Papercutz to meet this need which became a pioneer and leader in the quickly growing field of kids comics.

Film/TV Production Coordinator IATSE 161 | Writer/Producer

Christa Pagliei is a writer, producer and production coordinator in NYC. She's lent her logistical skillset and production knowledge to projects like The Last O.G, Jessia Jones, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Sneaky Pete, Mr.Robot and many others.

Her literary fiction has been published in places like Fictionvale, Strangelet, and Pseudopod.  Christa is also the co-creator (with Michael Augustine Dondero) of the audio drama podcast Lost Signal Society. The show is a whimsical, sometimes comedic series of anthology and stand-alone horror/fantasy/sci-fi plays.  Each tale takes place in an alternate universe New York City. She also directs, produces, and sometimes acts in the show. Her full work history can be found at ChristaPagliei.com

Artist | Owner of Dwarven Forge | Alumni

Artist Stefan Pokorny, a medieval fantasy devotee, avid Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, and High School of Art & Design Alumni (1987), founded his company, Dwarven Forge, in 1996. As a classically trained, professional painter and sculptor, Stefan decided to create "real" dungeon terrain that would equal his incredible 25mm tall hero figures. After many months of painstaking design, sculpting and painting, he introduced the world's finest pre-painted miniature terrain in 1996.

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Response from gamers was overwhelming! They loved the fact the pieces are fully hand-painted and ready to use out of the box. They marveled at how they could rearrange the pieces to depict an infinite number of fantasy settings. And they appreciated the amazing durability of his cast "polystone."

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Whether you are a fantasy fan or a gamer – or a friend/family member of one -- please take a few minutes to browse our site and check out our products. http://www.dwarvenforge.com/

Artist | Alumni

Wilson Ramos Jr is a freelance comic artist. Most known as a Colorist and Letterer who has worked in the comic industry for over 25 years, His clients include most of today’s top comic books publishers. Such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse, Random House, Red Anvil press, Darkstorm Comics New Paradigm Studios, Apex Comics, Shatner Singularity, Action Lab Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Papercutz Books, Committed Comics and many Independent & Small Press Publishers. 

His most recent projects include the Independent Publisher Book Awards winning “God Woke” written by the Legendary Stan Lee.Wilson is also a popular Sketch card artist who has work for Topps, Upper Deck, Cryptozoic Entertainment and Dynamite Entertainment. In his spare time, Wilson works on his creator own comic books Team Kaiju and Ninja Mouse Published by Section 8 Comics. His works can be found on their website www.section8comics.com

Ramos lives in New York City, where he attended The High School of Art & Design (1987-1989). He had received his Bachelor's of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design from Mercy College. (1990-1995) Worked at the Marvel Comics offices from (1993 intern) Staff (1994-2004) Since 2004 Working full-time freelance artist.

He’s available for Freelance work or Guest appearances at Comic Book Shop, Comic Conventions or Talks.

Editor for Archie Comics | Writer

Jamie L. Rotante is a New York-based writer, proofreader and editor.  She works full time as an Editor/Writer at Archie Comic Publications, Inc., bringing her unique voice to the alt-world Betty & Veronica: Vixens comic series as well as the new Betty & Veronica mini-series. She also writes about punk music, women's issues and being a neurotic for Razorcake magazine. In her free time she is a mentor and crisis text counselor and collects vinyl records just for fun.

Writer | Editor

Regine L. Sawyer is an American comics writer, editor, and founder of Women in Comics NYC Collective International. She is the author of The Rippers, Eating Vampires and Ice Witch. She is owner, writer, and creator for Lockett Down Productions, a small press company that employs all-female comic book artists with an emphasis on women of color. She moderated the Women in Comics Panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2017.

Animator | Professor NYU

J.J. Sedelmaier is the President/Director of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., a animation and design studio that he and his wife Patrice established in 1990. It has created and produced some of the most influential productions in the past quarter century. MTV’s “Beavis and Butthead” (https://vimeo.com/75057188), NBC/Saturday Night Live’s “Saturday TV Funhouse” cartoon series (including “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”- https://vimeo.com/93040946), Cartoon Network/Adult Swim’s “Harvey Birdman”(https://vimeo.com/107482035), Stephen Colbert’s “Tek Jansen”( https://vimeo.com/41875009), all had their beginnings at JJSP ! In addition to TV network cartoon series, the White Plains NY studio has produced over 500 animated commercial films and won over 700 prestigious awards (Emmy, Annie, Annecy and Art Directors Club kudos included) with screenings in over 100 festivals in 25 different countries.  Sedelmaier is an experienced educator (NYU), curator of exhibits on animation and design, architectural preservationist with two structures on the National Register Of Historic Preservation. He is also a contributing editor/author for Print Magazine’s “Imprint” (http://imprint.printmag.com/jj-sedelmaier/). He is also a regular presenter at ComicCons throughout the USA and the subject of numerous interviews in all facets of media. 
 
J.J.’s interests are wide and varied, If you Google him, you’ll become very confused… he likes that. 
 
www.jjsedelmaier.com 

Art Director @ Disney

Marci Senders is the Art Director at Disney-Hyperion, overseeing the design for the Young Adult novels and eBooks. Marci received her BFA in Graphic Design from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and has worked at Alloy Entertainment and Randomhouse Books for Young Readers.  She has designed and art directed the New York Times best-selling series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Darkest Minds, Isle of the Lost and The Belles, She now lives in Queens where she loves to create her own artwork.

Cartoonist | Creator of Maus | Alumni

*SUNDAY ONLY*

Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel Maus. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines Arcade and Raw has been influential, and from 1992 he spent a decade as contributing artist for The New Yorker.

Artist | Adjunct Professor at NYIT

*SUNDAY ONLY*

Jess Worby is an illustrator whose clients include The New York Times, McSweeney’s, and The Brooklyn Rail. His work has been exhibited in a variety of places, from a wall in the Brooklyn Historical Society to a large Taittinger window display at Sherry-Lehmann to a zine rack in The Brooklyn Museum. His work has been recognized by Best American Comics, American Illustration, and Society of Illustrators, and featured on sites like Buzzfeed, HuffPo, and Kotaku. He founded the Brooklyn Draw Jam, a community drawing event that encourages collaboration and experimentation. Jess teaches Illustration and Computer Graphics at NYIT, and works as a teaching artist at public schools and art centers across NYC. His literary work is represented by Ed Maxwell of Greenburger Associates.

Accountant

For many years it’s has been my great pleasure to write songs and perform them, mostly locally, for business groups, for gatherings of all kinds, and for kids.

Along the way I became the singing cpa, probably best known in New York for playing (guitar) and singing (my songs) on the steps of the Main Post Office in Manhattan on tax deadline night. More about Steven Zelin here: http://www.stevenzelin.com/