Teachers & Mentors


Cloudscape Comics has years of experience in providing public programming for the BC arts community. As part of our Fieldhouse Studio project, we have hosted free classes and workshops in our studio, and our members are no strangers to teaching classes in various schools and community centres in and around the Metro Vancouver area.

If you would like to contact Cloudscape Comics as a whole about working with your organization on an event, then please visit our Hire-A-Cloud page for details. If you would like to hire a particular Cloudscape Comics teacher for your school or community centre, feel free to contact a teacher directly from our list below.

For information on upcoming classes, please visit our Events page.

ANAT “LUNARBLADE” RABKIN

    mentorteachercontributorcommissionable Anat Rabkin is a local aspiring webcomic artist and constant dreamer. Creating tales of adventure and philosophy, she’s been telling her story for over 3 years now. As an 8-year veteran of the Vancouver games and film industry, she approaches comics in a pragmatic way, and as an immigrant, she has a unique perspective on life, which she channels into her work. You can check out her work at LunarBlade.com.

BEVAN THOMAS

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Bevan is heavily involved in Cloudscape on numerous levels, previously serving as the Media Manager and as a frequent editor and writer for various books. Most prominently, he spearheads the Epic Canadiana series of Canadian superhero anthologies. Outside of Cloudscape, Bevan’s comics have also been published in GuruKitty Studios’ trio of comic collections and in the Beyond science fiction anthology. A devotee of storytelling in all its forms, Bevan is available to teach and mentor people in writing and world-building.

CAMILLE ROBERTSON

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Camille Robertson is always working on written or illustrated works of her characters and their worlds. After delving into being a colourist for different projects, she enjoys collaborating with other artists to bring stories to life through light and colour. A lover of speculative fiction, Camille is currently working on two original webcomics: B3yond and ReNew. She is a freelance artist at the ready for commissioning and is always happy to teach or mentor other artists on how to improve their work.

JANICE LIU

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Janice Liu is a kids’ comic artist who has worked with children for 10 years. Her graphic novel with Naomi Cui, Chicken Soup & Goji Berries 中药鸡汤, was a 2020 Excellence in Graphic Literature Award finalist, and a Gene Day Award nominee. Janice’s all-ages comics use fantasy and the supernatural to explore loss, desire, and Chinese diasporic identity. Her comic work about Anti-Asian racism during the Covid-19 pandemic was featured in Comics in Transit 2021.

Janice is the owner at Young Artists’ Place in Burnaby, BC, where she teaches art classes for kids and teens. Janice is available for art & comics workshops, as well as youth mentorships.

JEFF ELLIS

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Recent graduate of Capilano Universities IDEA program with Bachelor of Design In Visual Communication seeking gainful employment in creating motion graphics and Illustrations. Visual storytelling has been his passion since childhood. Through his involvement in the Cloudscape Comics Society (which he founded) he’s had more than ten years of experience in project management, print production, publishing, and administration. he has managed the production of more than ten different printed graphic novels many of which contain my own work. He has also produced multiple books of his own work, most notably “Teach English In Japan”, which is based on my own experience teaching English in Japan for three years.

JESS POLLARD

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Jessica Pollard graduated from Camosun College in 2012, with a Certificate in Comics and Graphic Novels. By April 2017, she will have completed an Advanced Diploma in Visual Communication, which is a three-year degree program at Capilano University. She co-wrote, penciled, and inked “Hope Everything Okay” for the 2016 Cloudscape anthology Bones of the Coast, and currently works on the webcomic Liquid Shell.

JONATHON DALTON

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Jonathon lives and works just outside Vancouver, Canada. He makes comics about strange, alien worlds and the ordinary people who live in them. Jonathon’s past works include the self-published graphic novels A Mad Tea-Party and the Xeric-winning Lords of Death and Life. He has also drawn short comics for various Cloudscape anthologies, for Leia Weathington’s The Legend of Bold Riley, and for the anthologies New World and Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales: Asia Edition. He is currently working on a mysterious new book he has mysteriously described as “shoujo cyberpunk.” What a mystery!

JULIAN LAWRENCE

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Julian Lawrence is an award-winning artist and illustrator specializing in comic books. Born in England and raised bilingual English-French in Québec, his work has been published and displayed internationally by Fantagraphics Books, Les Editions des Plaines, Conundrum Press, National Film Board of Canada, Penguin Books, Cartoon Network and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Julian lives in Vancouver, Canada and teaches courses in contemporary comics at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and with ArtStarts in Schools.

MICHAEL KLUCKNER

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Michael returned to comic-graphic art after a time as a newspaper cartoonist in the 1970s as well as 30 years of writing and illustrating books on history, travel, and small-scale farming. His graphic novel Toshiko is set during WWII and 2050: A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery is a cli-fi thriller set in the ruins of a future Vancouver. A third comic, Julia, is underway.

Check out the books at Graphic Novels by Michael Kluckner.

ROB SHAUFArtist Profile

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In the last decade, I’ve spent most of my comic-making efforts on the comic strips “Charlie and the Ghost,” “Space Chuck,” and “Gogomachrocketsheep”. I’ve also dabbled in children’s book illustration, graphic design and animation. My absolute FAVOURITE thing to do is to help others discover and develop their own creative self-expressions!

STEVE ROLSTON

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Steve Rolston is an Eisner-Award-winning comic artist whose work includes Queen & Country, Emiko Superstar, Pounded, The Escapists, Degrassi, Ghost Projekt, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While he most often works with writers, Steve has gone solo on a few comics such as the cartoony Jack Spade & Tony Two-Fist and his slacker noir graphic novel One Bad Day. Beyond comics, Steve has worked on children’s books, video game character designs, and storyboards for animated cartoons. And since 2005, he has been teaching the art of comic book storytelling at the VanArts school in Vancouver.

VANESSA KELLY

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Since 2005 Vanessa has instructed all ages in drawing, comics, and animation, with classes hosted across the Lower Mainland. She has participated in and edited various Cloudscape anthologies and was a director for Cloudscape from 2009-2011. Vanessa holds a BFA in Visual Arts from Simon Fraser University and an Associate’s Degree in Commercial Animation from Capilano University. Currently she works as a storyboard artist.