This was a special project.
In the fall of 2007, Mikkel Beckmen of St. Stephen's Human Services talked to me about the possibility of doing a pamphlet to get information out about the new and somewhat insidious panhandling laws instated in Minneapolis.
I had a special challenge in that I was instructed that it needed to work for the functionally illiterate. It pushed my visual communication abilities more than any previous project because if I failed to deliver the message, not only would a story not work, but someone could potentially end up in serious trouble!
Upon completion in February 2008, 1000 copies were printed and distributed throughout the Twin Cities. The crazy thing is, it followed me! I was at a couple of community centers over the next year and folks told me that they'd seen the comic.
It's rare to get proof that your efforts go somewhere, and that was truly rewarding. I hope to do more work like it in the future.
Special thanks to Karen Ruskin and Vince Leo at MCAD for grant money; Elissa Cedarleaf-Dahl for the translation to glorious Español; Homeless Against Homeless for co-heading the project with St. Stephen's; Mikkel for the opportunity; Joshua Lang at St. Stephen's for the guidance; and especially to Rich Johnson (also at St. Stephen's) for his valuable insight.