Comic collaboration continues

When freelance illustrator and comics artist A. D’Amico (Illustration, 2016) was a student at Columbus College of Art & Design, she got to work with the writer Mikki Kendall on a comic for the anthology Spitball 2.

More recently, D'Amico and Kendall went on to collaborate on a new graphic novel—Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights—which is available for preorder now through Penguin Random House (and officially comes out in November 2019).

We talked to D'Amico recently about her experience.

Congratulations on your new book! How are you feeling?

Kind of overwhelmed and shocked that it's finally happening after a year and a half of solid work on it. But also super excited to have my first big book like this out, and have it be on such a cool topic!

What was your favorite part of working on the book?

Probably researching the costumes for each era the book explores; historical fashion has always been an interest of mine. I find the vast differences that occur in clothing based on the location and decade fascinating.

How did you come to work on Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights?

Spitball was actually the reason I got to work on Amazons; Mikki was the author I worked with for our story, Weedkiller, in Spitball 2. She contacted me maybe a little over a year later to see if I would be interested in collaborating again.

Overall, I think CCAD helped me get the work ethic down to be able to do a big project like this. Aside from the obvious reason that it helped me get better at art, I think I really learned how to apply those skills to a career setting, and be practical and disciplined when making art.

Any other big projects in the works?

Too many. I'm working on pitching another graphic novel (this one not quite as ambitious as Amazons, lucky for my hand), plus all kinds of other illustration projects. There's a lot of things I want to start working on and not enough hours in the day.

Images reprinted from Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists. Copyright © 2019 by Mikki Kendall. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by A. D’Amico. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Learn more about Comics & Narrative Practice at CCAD, or apply today.