I headed north on I-90, past Madison Wisconsin.  The weather was perfect as I listened to the new Willow Smith album, but as I approached Onalaska I saw dark clouds up ahead, and lightning in the distance.  

I’d left Rochelle just before 6am, hoping that coffee and excitement would take the edge off a 3 hour drive.  Even if it started to rain when I arrived, I couldn’t wait to see what our latest comic book workshop had in store.

Our first Free Comic Book Day events, in many ways, marked the beginning of Do Art Productions.  We were interested in promoting some of our comics, and reached out to libraries about even programming for Free Comic Book Day.  The response was marvelous–3 events on Free Comic Book Day, and several more scattered throughout the surrounding week.

The rain intensified as I got out of my car and walked into the library.  The room was spacious, and in no time I had it arranged in classic Do Art Style–tables encircling my workshop rug, with two banners behind me.  Kids and parents began to filter in: as we always do, I told them to draw me in their own, WACKY style.  One kid had just seen the new Godzilla movie, and drew me as a kaiju with a bucket hat and a T-shirt with a little waving man on it.  One girl drew me with snail eyes coming out of my hat.

I was even more effusive than usual, as we went through our usual workshop material: explaining that EYES are the engine of comics, drawing a WACKY SpongeBob and Gary (one kid suggested that we turn Gary into a bottle of ginger ale), and finally using POSE drawing to make a chase scene with stick figures.

Then, the moment of truth: it’s TIME TO MAKE A COMIC!  I mentioned that we wanted to start out by BRAINSTORMING, which inspired one girl to make the antagonist into a guy “with a storm in his brain.”  He was trying to create a storm over the whole galaxy, and Sonic the Hedgehog (the favorite character of one little boy in a blue sweatshirt) had to stop him.  Godzilla appeared in the second panel, and I got the kid who drew me as Godzilla to add him, while Sonic taunted “Brain Storm Guy” by saying  THE ONLY THING GETTING DESTROYED IS YOUR BUTT!  Sonic took a nap in panel 4, only to slap “Brain Storm Guy” with a chili dog.  “Brain Storm Guy” would be vanquished by Godzilla’s atomic pulse in the end, and the comic ended in truly WACKY style.

We took a few pictures and the kids cleared out.  The library staff noted that, because of the rain, we’d gotten an even bigger audience than anticipated.  It was the best workshop I’d run so far, if I do say so myself–the more I do this, the more inspired I become to add not only the kids’ ideas, but also their drawings and even their poses, to the comic that we all create together.  

The feeling of success was enough to last me all the way home.  I listened to Willow Smith’s new album: her seminal effort ARDIPITHECUS came out almost 10 years ago, and it’s amazing to see how her music has become even more confident, jazzy, and lyrical.  The rain let up as I left La Crosse county, Wisconsin, but turned into a driving rain further south.  No matter–I was excited and inspired to take Do Art even further.  

I can’t wait to see what Free Comic Book Day 2025 will bring!