Short Run Comix Festival

THANK YOU SEATTLE! Our 2024 festival was a great success because of you!

Our next festival will take place on Saturday, November 1st, 2025 at Seattle Design Center. Exhibitor applications will be open June 1 – July 31.

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New location

Seattle Design Center! Nov. 1, 2025.

Posted on by kelly
Categories: News

The Short Talk at Short Run

Update: Tara Booth unfortunately had to cancel, but we’re delighted that Julia Gfrörer could step in to talk with Angela Fanche during The Short Talk! 4 pm in front of the pavilion. Limited seating, dress warm! We will be selling Tara’s new book, “Becoming” at the Short Run Merch table.

Special Guests

Joakim Drescher is a visual artist whose practice includes printmaking, drawing, painting, writing and publishing. Born in Denmark in 1986, he has lived in China, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the USA, before returning to Copenhagen in 2015, where he lives and works. His most well-known graphic novel series is “Motel Universe”, published by Secret Acres. Joakim designed our fest poster!
Read more…

Mini-Comics Apprenticeships

Five paid apprenticeships are available, beginning in August and running through October (nine Saturday afternoon sessions, exact dates listed in the application). Students will learn about the history of the comics medium, practice drawing and writing through prompts and exercises, spend time on comics fundamentals, and then produce their own mini-comic. Students will have work time in the studio, but will also need to do some work at home. Students will display & sell their comics together at the festival taking place on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at Seattle Center.

UPDATE: The application period is now closed, and all applicants have been notified.

This program is generously supported by foundry10

Trailer Blaze 2024

Our 8th Trailer Blaze comics residency concluded on April 19th. We had an incredible week on the coast! We drew in our trailers and rooms and at picnic tables in the sun, spent many hours in the sauna, took long walks on the beach (and one plunge! A wave took Madeline’s glasses!), were visited often by Mr. Big (the tiniest dog) and Meatball (the campus cat).  Alex harvested velella velella from the beach and roasted them with salt as an appetizer. We had delectable group dinners on the top floor and balcony, and Julia built a fire for us in the outdoor fireplace. There were side trips to the Antique Mall and Cape Disappointment, but for the most part, work happened: comic pages of many sizes on many kinds of paper, ideas organized on Post-It notes, outlines typed up, and breakthroughs were made. Read more…

Health & Safety Information

[Updated for 2024] If you haven’t been to a previous Short Run festival, you should know that we are unlike a mainstream “comic-con” in many ways. We are a free, one day festival that takes place in a large, 12,000 sq. ft. space on the ground floor, with tall front windows and a high ceiling. There are no smaller break-out rooms. There will be a few hands-on activities like zine-making or screen printing, but the main focus will be on the exhibiting artists showcasing their work at tables on the festival floor. Approximately 250 artists will be there, and we expect attendance to be about 4,500 people spread out over 7 hours. Read more…