On the search for women colorists, letterers, inkers, writers or artists but aren’t sure where to look? Then the Visible Women hashtag is the place for you. Visible Women is a project of the production company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds Inc., founded by comic book writers Kelly Sue DeConnick (BitchPlanet) and Matt Fraction (SEX CRIMINALS). The hashtag hopes to bring increased visibility and awareness to women and nonbinary creators.

Here’s a bit about how it works, as explained on the Milkfed website:

We’re doing another round of #VisibleWomen on Monday, August 20th, 2018.  Just like last time, we’re accepting submissions of women* colorists, letterers, inkers and writers as well as artists.

So you have time to prepare, it works like this: Tweet your portfolio link(s) in the appropriate format below with the hashtag #VisibleWomen *any time on August 20th.* We will signal boost the tweet AND add your info to our #VisibleWomen spreadsheet, which is available free of charge to any hiring professional in the comic book industry.

The goals of the initiative are to raise the visibility of women in our industry and to get you work.

The hashtag helps bring awareness to the heaps of women and non-binary artists, illustrators, comics, and cartoonists out there. The hashtag event took place this past Monday, we’ve scoured Twitter for some of our favorite posts and have included them below.

1. Sara Alfageeh

Alfageeh is a Jordanian-American illustrator who specialized in visual storytelling. Her work, according to her website, focuses on the intersection of art and identity. She hails from Boston, her work has appeared in Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy and Bingo Love, Vol 1: Jackpot Edition.

2. Heikala

The Finland based artist who goes by the name Heikala creates gorgeous watercolor illustrations. They regularly record and show their progress over on their blog. This past July, they launched a Kickstarter for their first artbook The Art of Heikala: Works and Thoughts, which is now available for preorder.

https://twitter.com/heikala_art/status/1031720938318921728

3. Eu

Eunice Cruzabra is an illustrator and graphic artist based in Manila. Eu says they are inspired by Japan, Street style, Grunge and Cyberghetto elements. Their complex and detailed illustrations present typically cute characters who may have more to say than meets the eye. Additional exploration reveals complex characters and personalities.

4. Steffi Walthall

Character and concept artist Steffi Walthall is a woman after my own heart. I say this for a few reasons. The first is that she draws ladies with swords and the second is that she enjoys playing video games like Destiny 2 and Fornite in her spare time. Walthall is also interactive designer and interested in game development. Currently, she is the lead design fellow over at women’s media company The Tempest.

5. BabyPears

The Canadian artist known as Baby Pears isn’t afraid to take chances with color and I’m grateful for that. Their character work, while bold in its color choices, retains a softness that gives me some vague contours of nostalgia, a memory whose hard edges have been worn away. Their digital illustrations can be found on Tumblr or on Society6.

https://twitter.com/itsbabypears/status/1031890952195952641

6. Jackie

Astronbot is a visual development artist who, in addition to loving everything 80s, also loves video games like Metal Gear Solid. When they aren’t being inspired by dope 80s themes and colors, you can find them contributing to a Daft Punk Zine or drawing fan art based off the actual play podcast, Friends at the Table.

7. Morenike Olusanya

Morenike is a visual artist; illustrator & designer. Her stunning work is primarily through digital and charcoal mediums. In an interview for the magazine The Spark, Rorenike says she is inspired by her culture. “I love African women. I love African hair, fashion…everything African. I also draw inspiration from phrases I get from books I read.”

8. Denise

I don’t know how else to say this, but Denise is extremely my mood. Inspired by everything from animals to video games, her work clearly takes on the characteristics of the place she currently calls home (Tokyo, Japan). In addition to her artwork, you can find her stunning photography and cosplay over on her Instagram.

9. Mady

Mady Marcelino is a Philippines based illustrator and graphic designer who specializes in black and white architectural illustrations. Mady says the inspiration for her art style comes from the mangas she read as a child. Her gorgeously detailed work often captures intimate moments of life in a city, an exposition of the way the personal is public and vice versa. You can catch more of Mady’s work on Instagram.

10. Jenn Woodall

Jenn Woodall hails from Ontario, Canada where she regularly stuns us with her incredible work. She self-publishes her own comic through the small press outfit, Silver Sprocket. When she isn’t, you know, winning awards she’s drawing babes who aren’t afraid to give you a beatdown. Woodall is behind the gorgeous risograph comic Magical Beatdown. This October you can find her work in the new book by writer Sam Maggs called Girl Squads, which will be published by Quirk Books.

It’s impossible to tell you the breadth and variety of skill and talent. So do yourself a big old favor and check out all of the amazing contributions for yourself. As a reminder, Milkfed also puts together a spreadsheet of the artists and creators for hiring professionals which you can request by filling out this form. The next #VisibleWomen event is slated for February 2019, so mark your calendars people.

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1 COMMENT

  1. What a wonderful initiative. Especially since when I founded the “Women Doing Comics” page for Friends of Lulu, there were folks in FoL who didn’t understand what the big deal was about visibility…

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