Emily Lewis Interview| Kickstarter Boost

Emily Lewis is a co-founder of the Miss Anthology series and Director of this year’s edition, Miss Anthology Vol. 3 (now featured as a “Project We Love” on Kickstarter). She is a graphic designer and comic creator. Her books include My Sister, Monsters & Other Magical Beings, and Beetle Song. Support the campaign HERE.

Could you tell me a little about the Portland creator scene?

The Portland creator scene is like nothing I’ve ever seen. There’s an incredibly strong community of people who are very supportive of each other and generous with their time and resources. We have great comics programs at Portland State University and PNCA that are filled with amazing professors that help plug people into mentor programs and internships with Milkfed, Dark Horse, and Helioscope. There’s an affordable printing resource called the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) that hosts workshops, and community events. Local comic shops, bars, and community centers host free drawing nights and workshops around town.

Miss Anthology works a lot with Books with Pictures, Marrow PDX, and Portland Community College. We wouldn’t have our workshops without those places generously offering space. There’s also a great group of zinesters and comic creators that run a free festival called Portland Zine Symposium, as well as a few other indie and commercial conventions in the region. Miss Anthology wouldn’t have gotten very far without the help of the people behind all of the comic, academic, and creative communities.

Could you share a little about the core team behind the Anthology?

Miss Anthology’s core is myself and Melanie Stevens. This year we have Desiree Wilson on the team as an editor. I met Desiree through a book club a few years back. Melanie and I met in grad school. We are all friends and support our other creative endeavors. Melanie and I were roommates the year we came up with the idea to start a female and non-binary anthology and free workshops for kids. We’ve changed a few things over the years, and opened up the group to be more inclusive to the entire LGBTQIA2S+ community and opened up to a wider age group. We often rotate out our seasonal instructors, classes, and editing team from year to year so that we can offer opportunities to as many creators and professionals in the community as possible. We definitely have complimentary skill sets and a passion for comics. We all have day jobs within different but complimentary industries that help support what we do in Miss Anthology. Desiree is in the publishing industry, Melanie is in academia, and I work in marketing and graphic design. Editorial decisions are made first through myself and Desiree, then Melanie does a final review and copy editing. It’s important that the book’s layout is appealing, flows well, is easy to read, and the comics compliment each other.

What motivates your mission of inclusivity and the empowerment of young creators?

There’s a need for diversity in comics. We wanted to help this next generation of comic creators in our area learn and grow in a collaborative and encouraging environment. We introduce the students to female and LGBTQIA2S+ creators and professionals in their community, share a diverse range of comics, teach them how to talk about and share their work with their peers, and teach them more about the industry and techniques. Our anthology helps give emerging creators experience working with publishers, while still having the flexibility to grow, learn, and communicate with us about what we need from them while meeting deadlines.

What would you say to publishers who do not feel your same sense of mission or your same focus on inclusivity and young creators?

All of the publishers we’ve met with really love our mission. We’ve had a couple offer to give our creators tours of their offices and help set up meetings with published writers and artists. We know that all publishing houses have different audiences and styles that they prefer. We don’t care about anyone who doesn’t share our focus. We want this next generation of industry professionals to shape the industry into what they want it to be.

What would you say to publishers who do not feel your same sense of mission or your same focus on inclusivity and young creators?

All of the publishers we’ve met with really love our mission. We’ve had a couple offer to give our creators tours of their offices and help set up meetings with published writers and artists. We know that all publishing houses have different audiences and styles that they prefer. We don’t care about anyone who doesn’t share our focus. We want this next generation of industry professionals to shape the industry into what they want it to be.

I’ve noticed you do a lot of classes and live events, bringing the ethos of your anthology into the real world. That feels unique and special. Could you share more about these live events?

We teach a variety of classes that change occasionally. Our first couple years we taught writing classes, character development, lettering, coloring, inking, and more. This year was more genre-focused. We had auto-bio, horror, humor, comics and society, and even a landscape drawing and hiking class.

Now that we’ve been around for a few years, I think the most gratifying experiences are seeing growth and change. We’ve had a number of students who take classes one year and submit work for the anthology the following year. I also have a couple of former students and anthology creators who are getting ready to Kickstart their first book. Seeing them continue to make comics and grow has been proof that we’ve helped make a difference.

How can people help your anthology and your outreach?

Please help share and support Miss Anthology Volume 3 on Kickstarter!

Follow us on social media too!
Kickstarter link
Instagram: @missanthology
Twitter: @missanthology
missanthologycomics.com