April 9th, 2011 is the date for the first annual Mini-Comics Day, celebrating the art of cartooning and creating hand-made comic books.
On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.
Mini-comics have been democratizing the art of making comic books since the 70’s or earlier… with the popularization of photocopiers, it became apparent that anyone with an inclination and some spare change could print a little comic book. Wildly varying in both form and content, mini-comics are a wonderful synthesis of cartooning and hand-made art objects.
Guidelines: To participate, create a mini-comic from start to finish on April 9th, 2011 (including writing, drawing and printing it). You can make your mini-comic by yourself or with other artists.
Format: Your mini-comic can be any size, length and format you desire. A standard mini-comics size would be eight 4.25″x5.5″ pages (which can be made from one 8.5×11 sheet of paper printed on both sides).
Help: For more information on how to make a mini-comic, see the Cartoonist Conspiracy’s mini-comic tutorial How to Make Mini-Comics. More resources can be found here.
Submit: Optionally, you can post information and/or images from your comic on this blog. Contact 
for an account to post here.
Bonus points: If you are working with a group of cartoonists, you may want to consider collecting your mini-comics together to distribute as a set. Bags, rubber bands, or boxes all work great for this purpose.
Also, you may want to consider trading copies by submitting some to the Mini-comix Co-op.
Events: Mini-Comics Day events will be organized at different locations around the world. You can read more about how to organize an event in our FAQ. The purpose of Mini-Comics Day events is to provide a place for cartoonists to draw and/or print their comics, and possibly to trade or sell their minis if they choose to.
If you would like to organize an event, contact us at so we can promote your event and add it to our event listing.
About The International Cartoonist Conspiracy: Founded in Minneapolis in 2002, The International Cartoonist Conspiracy is a loosely organized group of cartoonists with cells all over the world. The Conspiracy has been responsible for many collaborative projects, including anthologies, gallery shows, and numerous jams every month. Any cartoonist anywhere can start a cell, and anyone with a desire to draw comics is encouraged to participate.
NICE! Great idea. I’m looking forward to it.
Great idea! I know 24-hr comic day can be extremely overwhelming.
Glad it sounds good to both of you! Thanks for participating!
I’ve been doing mini comics for years. In the light of all things digital, can a Mobile comic for a smart phone be considered a Mini Comic?
The printing of a mini-comic is intended to be as much a part of this event as drawing and writing the comic. So, while you could certainly argue that a smart phone comic is a mini-comic… it isn’t really the intent of the event to make comics for screens. That said, I would guess a lot of participants will be making digital versions of their printed mini-comics. Hope it appeals to you, Barry! Thanks for checking it out.
I LIKE this idea, and I shall do it! Although, since there seem to be no places that are hosting it in my state, I rather suspect it’ll just be me scribbling away on my portable table at home. (Amateurs are OK, too, I hope???).
On a side note, and just out of curiosity, how does one make a mobile comic??? That also sounds fascinatin’.
Thanks for participating, Lida! The event is definitely open to anyone, anywhere who wants to participate.
I’ve never made a mobile comic, so I don’t really know about that. You could glue a mini-comic to a phone! Perhaps someone else has an answer for that?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Good answer. My other idea was to draw everything, then take pictures, then upload them to some kind of file sharing thingy. But that’s probably not it either 😛
Can you plan out your comic in advance? Or is it like 24 Hour Comic Day, where everything begins at “Go!”
You can definitely plan in advance, if you’re inclined… but all the drawing, writing and printing is intended to be on the day of the event. In my experience with this sort of thing, I find a lack of planning in advance can lead to a lot of fun (and sometimes desperate) inspiration. The emphasis of the event is on making an actual printed comic in a day… ultimately it is up to the participant how much they are comfortable planning for it in advance while staying in the spirit of the event. That all said, planning how you want to put your comic together in advance is a very good idea… pagination and other printing factors can potentially get pretty complex.
Cool! Getting jitters, shivers, and nerves, but still game for the day!