Squishface Studio is a

co-working Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

space for

comic artists A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

s in

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

, Australia. It was founded in Brunswick, Australia in November 2011 by Ben Hutchings, Sarah Howell, David Blumenstein, Marta Tesoro, Arran McKenna and Sacha Bryning, and formally opened to the public on January 26, 2012. As of 2024, Howell, Blumenstein and Hutchings continue to be resident artists. Squishface is known as a community hub for comics in Australia; it is the only permanent comics maker space in the country and one of few in the world that is open to the public. It also publishes comics; three editions of the anthology ''Squishzine Brunstown'' have been released. The first won a Bronze Ledger award in 2015. It published its first book, ''Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends'', in 2024.

History

In 2011, eight Melbourne comic artists were invited by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

to spend a month in residency at the NGV Studio space at

Federation Square Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Street ...

. Two were Sarah Howell and Ben Hutchings, who decided, along with four other local comic artists, to establish a permanent space that would function in a similar way. The original Squishface Studio was located at 309 Victoria St, Brunswick, and was a single room shop front in which eight to twelve artists were typically resident at any given time. It was previously a bridal shop. Squishface Studio is now located at Studio Hall in South Melbourne, on the grounds of St Kilda Southport Uniting Church. It supports itself financially by memberships and running classes.

Studio activities

The studio's major events are the Squishface Coaster Show (a parody of the Linden Postcard Show), Squishface anniversary events and the monthly drawing night (first Wednesday of each month). At different times the studio has also held Ladies' Drawing Auxiliary, a showcase for the work of non-male comics makers, book launches, children's classes and exhibitions. Squishface has also been heavily involved in the Homecooked Comics Festival, which was run for several years by Squishface artists Sarah Howell and Clea Chiller and was then passed on to

Black Inc Schwartz Publishing is an Australian publishing house, digital media, and news media organisation based in Melbourne, established by Australian property developer Morry Schwartz in the 1980s. Since the late 1990s many of its publications have a ...

publicity and marketing manager Marian Blythe. In 2023, ''Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends'', "a how-to-make-comics book, and a why-you-should-make-comics book", was crowdfunded, and received support from the City of Melbourne. The book was officially published in 2024. Contributors include David Blumenstein, Alex e Clark, Patrick Alexander, performer Nicholas J. Johnson and screenwriter Warwick Holt. In 2024 Squishface held the first Emerald Hill Comics Festival at their South Melbourne location.

Resident artists

The following artists have been resident in the studio. * Ben Hutchings * Sarah Howell *David Blumenstein *Marta Tesoro *Arran McKenna *Sacha Bryning * Jo Waite * Scarlette Baccini * Patrick Alexander *

Lily Mae Martin ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

* Laura Renfrew * Scott Reid * Jess Parker * Teags Humm *

Alexander Trevisan Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

* Agathe de Gennes * Jase Harper * Lucy Fekete * Haydn Kwan * Natalie Britten * Samantha Ee * Danny Stanley *

Chris Gooch Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian author ...

* Grace Reeves * Eleri Mai Harris * Emily Hearn * Mark Ingram * Drew Turketo * Ele Jenkins * Ive Sorocuk *

Alex Clark Alex Clark may refer to: * Alex Clark (baseball), American baseball player * Alex Clark (journalist), British literary journalist * Alex Clark (politician) (1916–1991), American politician * Alex Clark (squash player) (born 1987), Scottish squash ...

* Jonathan Vyssaritis * Lauren (Hills) Bedggood * Rebecca Clements * Andrea Crisp * Sophia Parsons Cope *

Clea Chiller Clea is a female given name. Clea may refer to: People with the given name * Clea DuVall (born 1977), actress * Clea Hoyte (born 1981), West Indies cricketer * Clea Koff (born 1972), British-born American forensic anthropologist and author * ...

* Simon Howe * Marlo Mogensen * Verity Sathasivam * Simon Wall * Nicola Mitchell * Martin Nixon * Tom Winspear * Ariel Ries * Sam Emery * Sarah Firth * Issey Fujishima *Priscilla Ong *Vicky Nguyen *Tom Vaughn

Projects worked on at the studio

*Jase Harper's graphic novel ''Awkwood'' *Chris Gooch's graphic novels ''Bottled'' *Ben Hutchings' graphic novels ''The Invisible War, Mini-Mel and Timid Tom'', ''Avanti! Tutta'' and ''Follow Your Gut'' *''Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends'' *Photographer/filmmaker Kasper Voogt created a portrait series of Squishface Studio artists.

References

Sources

* Squishface Studio, ''About

*Blumenstein, David
"Squishface Studio: A Physical Hub for Comics in Melbourne"
* Caterson, Simon
"Chris Gooch’s debut graphic novel; Monkey Grip for Millennials"
Daily Review (Dec 30, 2017). * Maynard, Amy
"The Melbourne Scene: A Case Study of Comics Production, City Spaces, and The Creative Industries"
* Blumenstein, David
"Stanleys 2013: The Australian Cartoonists Association conference (part 1)"
(Oct 29, 2013). *Squishface Studio
"Squishface Studio's response to Australia Council cuts"
(26 June 2015).

External links

*{{Official website, https://squishfacestudio.com/ 2011 establishments in Australia Publishing companies established in 2011 Australian cartooning Australian comics artists Australian artist groups and collectives Comic book publishing companies of Australia