The Art of Story: Graphic Novels

Max Brallier is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books and games, including the middle-grade series The Last Kids on Earth. In the olden days, Max was a game designer for the virtual world Poptropica and worked in marketing at St. Martin's Press. Max lives in Los Angeles with his family. Visit him online at maxbrallier.com or on Instagram @max_loves_pants.

Jerry Craft is a New York Times bestselling author-illustrator who has worked on numerous picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade novels, including the Newbery award-winning graphic novel, New Kid. Jerry is the creator of Mama’s Boyz, an award-winning syndicated comic strip. He has won five African American Literary Awards and is a cofounder of the Schomburg Center’s Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and now lives in Connecticut. Visit him online at www.jerrycraft.com.

Julia DeVillers is the author of the UltraSquad series, the Liberty Porter, First Daughter series, and How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller, which became the Disney Channel original movie Read It And Weep (in which Julia had a cameo playing ‘Woman Who Is About to Vomit.’) She also wrote the Trading Places series with her twin sister, Jennifer Roy. She lives in Columbus, Ohio. Visit her at www.juliadevillers.com or on Instagram @juliadevillers.

Kat Leyh is a Chicago based writer and artist. She’s best known as the current co-writer and cover artist for the series Lumberjanes, and for her queer superhero webcomic Supercakes. She’s also worked as a cover artist, and back-up writer/artist for several BOOM! Studios series. Visit her online at katleyh.com, on Twitter @kaymlay, or on Tumblr at katleyh.tumblr.com.