Graphic novel group Stick Mob prepares for official launch in 2021

Stick Mob Stu­dio is a group of five indi­vid­u­als focused on cre­at­ing and shar­ing impor­tant sto­ries through graph­ic nov­els. The group con­sists of Artist Wendy Cow­an, Graph­ic Nov­el­ists Declan Miller, Seraphi­na New­ber­ry and Alyssa Mason, and Scriptwriter Lau­ren Boyle.

The team shares sto­ries inspired by lived expe­ri­ences, draw­ing on themes sur­round­ing sci­ence, art and lit­er­a­ture, and with a strong focus on their cul­tur­al roots.

The Stick Mob slo­gan, ​‘It’s yOUR sto­ry’, rep­re­sents the link between indi­vid­ual expe­ri­ences, and how they cre­ate and influ­ence col­lec­tive sto­ries. The name is a nod to the first stage in the graph­ic nov­el cre­ation process: draw­ing stick fig­ures, or ​‘thumb­nail­ing’ in graph­ic nov­el vernacular.

The idea for Stick Mob came about in 2016 when Declan was a stu­dent being taught by Wendy. Per­sis­tent efforts from the two co-founders and sup­port from var­i­ous organ­i­sa­tions has allowed Stick Mob to progress from a school project to 40-page pub­li­ca­tions. The brand now sits under par­ent com­pa­ny Gestalt Publishing.

Stick Mob’s devel­op­ment has been sup­port­ed over the last four years by Gestalt Pub­lish­ing, the Indige­nous Lit­er­a­cy Foun­da­tion, Yawu­ru artist Bren­ton E McKen­na, Cen­tralian Senior Col­lege, Indige­nous Busi­ness Aus­tralia, Cen­tral Aus­tralian Youth Link Up Ser­vice (CAY­LUS), Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty, and DKA.

The team is cur­rent­ly work­ing out of DKA’s Busi­ness & Inno­va­tion Cen­tre at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, where they are being men­tored by Wendy and DKA CEO Dr Dan Tyson. Stick Mob will have three graph­ic nov­els, cre­at­ed by Declan, Seraphi­na, Alyssa and Lau­ren, pub­lished at a nation­al launch next year by Gestalt Pub­lish­ing and the Indige­nous Lit­er­a­cy Foundation.

Stick Mob will offi­cial­ly launch in ear­ly 2021. Its oper­a­tions will focus on three main areas: graph­ic nov­el cre­ation, host­ing stu­dio work­shops and online cours­es, and com­mis­sion-based illus­tra­tive work.