Our 9th annual, week-long Trailer Blaze Comics Residency was a brilliant, transformative time once again, and tears were shed as we said our goodbyes.
Trailer Blaze 2025
Short Run Comix Festival
Our next festival will take place on Saturday, November 1st, 2025 at Seattle Design Center.
Exhibitor applications will be open June 1 – July 31.
Add yourself to our mailing list for deadline reminders and updates on upcoming local programming.
SHOW UP artist talks – 2025 schedule
SHOW UP – a series of show and tell with comic artists building IRL community
We want artists to get to know each other better, through their work and processes, and to invest in each other more fully as a year round community. Artists will stand up and stand by their work, and present it to other people, instead of working mostly in isolation with no feedback or support. What does being part of a community mean? That we all live in a geographical area, or that we are invested in the progress and success of our peers? Let’s inspire each other! Read more…
New location
Seattle Design Center! Nov. 1, 2025.
Short Run in The Comics Journal
Check out the 2 Short Run wrap-up/”scene reports” that posted on TCJ.com yesterday. Thanks to Colin Blanchette and Maia Hamilcaro-Berlin.
Fest Pics and Haunted Photo Booth
Photo Booth pics from our after-party at Mini Mart City Park, Nov. 2nd.
Backdrop and photographer: Melissa Kagerer
Festival pics (exhibitors, crowd, volunteers, space), Fisher Pavilion, Nov. 2nd.
Photographer Chris Hong (unless noted)
DASH grant recipient 2024: Rae Whitlock
Katie Kelso Travel Grant Recipients 2024
We’re thrilled to be able to help these 5 exhibitors with travel costs to come to Seattle on Nov. 2nd.
Read more…
Mini-Comics Apprenticeships 2024
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…
Dash Grant Recipient 2023: Molly Colleen O’Connell
Molly Colleen O’Connell from Berwyn, IL is our Dash Grant recipient this year, for her mini-comic “Pebbles #2” which will premiere at Short Run on Nov. 4th!
Pebbles 2: the next chapter in the story of an ornithophile who tries new meds. “It’s Total Recall meets Heathers” – Conor Stechschulte Read more…
Trailer Blaze 2023
Another wonderful week at The Sou’Wester Lodge for our 7th annual Trailer Blaze Comics Residency, with 13 artists from all over – Seattle, Philadelphia, Hiroshima, Norfolk, Portland, Omaha, Haida Gwaii, Osoyoos! Read more…
DASH GRANT recipient 2022 – Julia Wald
Local artist and illustrator Julia Wald is this year’s DASH GRANT recipient! We were really excited about her story synapsis and hyper-color drawing style of her upcoming comic, Uncle Scam’s Army Navy Surplus, an autobiography of their first job out of school in Buffalo, working at an army navy surplus store where they sold military gear to doomsday preppers, zombie cosplayers, and neo Nazis. This first part of a much longer story will premiere at Short Run on Nov. 5th. Read more…
Trailer Blaze 2022
Trailer Blaze 2022 really, truly happened after a 2 year postponement, and it made the experience even more special.
This year we welcomed new residents Veronika Muchitsch (UK), Melanie Stevens (OR), Krusty Wheatfield (CA), Lenora Yerkes (DC), Janna Morton (MD), Rachel Scheer (Seattle); invited artists Lydia Fu (IL), Katie Fricas (NY); alumni, local mentors Mita Mahato, E.T. Russian, Lauren Armstrong, Megan Kelso, and Kelly Froh. Read more…
“DECADE: 10 years of Short Run Comix & Arts Festival” (a festival in a book)
The first 200 copies sold also receive a limited edition, two-sided, Risograph poster with art by Jasjyot Singh Hans and Eroyn Franklin, designed and printed by Hocus Pocus Press.
Looking for online comics workshops?
There’s lots of great online content out there to keep you inspired and help you keep up your drawing and comics-making practice. Read more…
Dash Grant winner 2019 Rumi Hara
We’re so thrilled that our Dash Grant winner Rumi Hara was able to come to Seattle a few days early and screen print her covers for her gorgeous new mini-comic, The Peanut Butter Sisters. She had this to say, “I had a wonderful time in Seattle! It was amazing being part of the Short Run community, meeting new friends through comics and being inspired to keep making more books. I’m so grateful for the time and space and all the encouragement I was given to make the new comic.”
2019 Katie Kelso Travel Grant Winners!
Congratulations to Alejandra Espino and Cole Pauls! Each artist exhibitor will receive $200 to be used towards traveling to Short Run on Nov. 9th!
Katie Kelso Travel Grant
Two $200 grants will be awarded this year to traveling exhibitors who express financial need. Short Run had the honor of knowing Katie Kelso, a true adventurer and lover of books, who passed away in 2017. Her gift helps artists with travel expenses getting to Seattle for Short Run. We will never forget her!
Exhibitors – this is not a separate application, simply mark that you are in need of financial assistance in the exhibitor app. No explanation needed.
Trailer Blaze 2019
The concentrated time spent at Trailer Blaze, with such an amazing and diverse group of artists, was exactly what I needed to reconnect to both my work and myself. – Jessica Hoffman
Eroyn Franklin retires from Short Run after 7 years
Retirement message from Eroyn Franklin, co-founder and Creative Director Read more…