Melanie Gillman is an American queer

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

cartoonist, illustrator, and lecturer, specializing in LGBTQ comics for

Young Adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

readers, including the webcomic ''As the Crow Flies.'' Their comics have been published by

Boom! Studios Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Origins In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Holly ...

Iron Circus Comics Iron Circus Comics is an American graphic novel publisher founded in 2007 by C. Spike Trotman. Based in Chicago, it is known for publishing the ''Smut Peddler'' line of "lady-centric porn" anthologies and graphic novels, and for its pioneering us ...

Lion Forge Comics Lion Forge Comics was an American comic book publisher founded in 2011 by David Steward II and Carl Reed, with headquarters formerly located in St. Louis, Missouri. The company has a strong focus on culturally diverse creators and stories. In 20 ...

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

VICE A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

Prism Comics Prism Comics is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) creators, stories, characters, and readers in the comics industry. It does this through informational booths and prog ...

Northwest Press Northwest Press is an American publisher specializing in LGBT-themed comic books and graphic novels. It was founded in 2010 by Charles "Zan" Christensen. The company publishes in print, as well as through digital channels such as ComiXology and A ...

, and

The Nib The Nib is an American online daily comics publication focused on political cartoons, graphic journalism, essays and memoir about current affairs. Founded by cartoonist Matt Bors in September 2013, The Nib is an independent member-supported pu ...

Education

Gillman received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

from the

Center for Cartoon Studies The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is a two-year institution focusing on sequential art, specifically comics and graphic novelsCalifornia College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

(CCA) in 2015, and was later appointed Senior Lecturer in Comics. They teach courses at the

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design The Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) is a private for-profit art school in Lakewood, Colorado. The college was founded in 1963 by Philip J. Steele, an artist and teacher. History RMCAD was founded in 1963 by Philip J. Steele ...

and the Art Students' League of Denver and have been a writing fellow with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship program since 2017.

Publications

Gillman's first graphic novel ''Smbitten'' – about lesbians, swing-dancing, fancy hats, and vampires – was produced as part of their Masters thesis at the Center for Cartoon Studies. In 2012 they began ''As the Crow Flies,'' a webcomic about a 13-year-old African American queer girl who finds herself at an all-white Christian backpacking camp. The first volume of ''As the Crow Flies'' was funded through

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. The Amelia Bloomer Project named it as one of their 2019 top 10 books for readers from birth to age 18. ''As the Crow Flies'' received the

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

Honor in 2018, was also nominated for the "Best Digital/Webcomic"

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

in 2014 and the "Outstanding Comic"

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

in 2016. The

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

awarded Gillman a gold medal for it. Gillman was co-editor with Kori Michele Handwerker and a contributor to ''The Other Side'', an anthology of 19 queer paranormal romance comics published in 2016. In 2016, they began writing an ongoing ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who li ...

'' comics series for

. Under Lerner Publishing Group, Gillman published ''Stage Dreams'' in 2019. The story centers around a female Latinx outlaw and a runaway trans woman in New Mexico during the Civil War. Citing their interest in historical fiction and the lack of queer representation in such stories, Gillman aimed to create a story which depicted queer history prior to the Civil Rights movement. In 2019, Gillman received the opportunity to create a compilation of queer fairy tales from Random House Graphic after the success of a series of queer fairy-tale comics Gillman published online garnered widespread popularity. The opportunity led to the publication of ''Other Ever Afters'' in 2022. Gillman noted following a Western European fairytale format of storytelling to reinterpret old stories in a more modern point of view. Gillman's intent behind the stories of ''Other Ever Afters'' was to provoke readers into thinking about how women and girls are treated within traditional tales and stories.

Personal life

Gillman lives in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. Gillman is

and uses the gender-neutral pronouns ''they'' and ''their''.

Bibliography

Books

''As the Crow Flies'' (2017) ''Care Bears Volume 1: Rainbow River Rescue'' (2016) ''The Other Side: An Anthology of Queer Paranormal Romance'' (2016) ''Steven Universe #1'' (2017) ''Steven Universe #2'' (2017) ''Steven Universe #3'' (2017) ''Steven Universe #4'' (2017) ''Steven Universe #8'' (2017) ''Steven Universe: Warp Tour'' (2017) ''Steven Universe: Punching Up'' (2018) ''Stage Dreams (2019)'' ''Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales (2022)''

References

External links

*
Personal Tumblr blog

Gumroad

Patreon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillman, Melanie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American cartoonists American webcomic creators American non-binary artists American non-binary writers LGBT comics creators LGBT people from Oklahoma People from Tulsa, Oklahoma Queer artists Queer writers University of Colorado Boulder alumni