Jordan Crane

Jordan is noted for his well observed narratives that focus on the vulnerability and mystery of the human experience. His immaculate sense of design, powerful cartooning, striking posters and art have had a profound effect on alternative comics and the way comics are perceived as an art form. Infusing a punk rock D.I.Y. aesthetic with a clear understanding of craft, Crane’s work feels both like humble, handcrafted objects made in the garage of a lonely teenager, and amazingly planned and sophisticated works of an artist at the height of his form. Winner of numerous awards and prizes in both design and comic industries, Crane first emerged in 1996 with the anthology NON, which he edited, contributed to, and published. This anthology took the best of what made Art Spiegelman’s RAW a classic and combined it with a clear sense of where the future of comics lay. After two more issues of NON, he moved to Massachusetts, and began collaborating with the now defunct comics publisher Highwater Books. His first novel, The Last Lonely Saturday, a simple but powerful tale of love and loss, demonstrated that Crane was an artist who had come into his own. He followed that with Col-Dee, a work that expanded on the emotional ideas in his first novel. Crane’s The Clouds Above, is a fast-paced children’s story which follows the adventures of a boy named Simon and his large cat named Jack. They battle angry clouds, peevish birds and elude the grasp of an overbearing teacher, with the effect resonating somewhere between Where the Wild Things Are and The Wizard of Oz. Crane is currently working on a quarterly comic book called Uptight where he presents new short stories and serialize his sprawling, epic meditation on family, death, and the imagination called Keeping Two. http://reddingk.com

Theo Ellsworth

Self-taught artist and storyteller who grew up in the mountains of Montana. He developed his art while wandering the United States in a motor powered vehicle. He is uncommonly fond of clouds, monsters, trees, and impossible objects. He is prone to fits of whimsy, and his mind is filled with preposterous notions, yet he still manages to come across as semi-normal. He now lives in Portland, Oregon with a witch doctor and a slightly evil cat, and spends as much time as possible making comics, art zines, and imaginary phenomenon. He also helps run the Pony Club gallery, which he co-founded and teaches an art class once a year at Artfest in Port Townsend, Washington. He has replaced his motor powered vehicle with a two-wheeled, human-powered contraption. His comic work & art can be seen in such books as Capacity, Sleeper Car, Thought Cloud Shrines, Juxtapoz Magazine, Giant Robot Magazine, Nickelodeon Magazine, Snow Stories, Prism Index and Bird Hurdler. Theo’s artwork has exhibited at such galleries as Giant Robot LA/SF/NY, Floating World Comics, Grass Hut Gallery, Eye Level Gallery, Guapo Comics and Coffee. The band Ramona Falls also commissioned him to do album cover art and t-shirts. Theo is currently working on his next comic “The Quiet Family.” www.thoughtcloudfactory.com

Dan Brereton

Brereton is one of the few painters left in the industry who still do comics full time. Just barely out of art school, Dan burst onto the scene in 1989 with the award winning BLACK TERROR miniseries and hasn’t looked back since. For years now, he’s produced an amazingly prolific body of work and has been nominated many times for several different industry and fan awards. His credits include The Nocturnals, The Gunwitch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror, The Psycho, Clive Barker’s Dread, Vampirella Halloween Special, Red Sonja, Chemical Reflex, Escapist and Giantkiller to name a few. His artwork has graced the comic covers of Creepy, GI Joe, Conan, Mars Attacks, Nightbreed, Hellraiser, From Dusk Till Dawn and Death Jr. There is barely a comic book company Dan has not worked with. Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse and Image and many more have published Dan’s work. He’s painted covers for various White Wolf RPG editions (including Werewolf: Dark Ages and Werewolf: Second Edition Player’s Guide), Star Wars RPG illustrations for Wizards and has also appeared in horrorshow rocker, Rob Zombie’s album HELLBILLY DELUXE and his latest release. www.nocturnals.com