Image of Cartoon Allies' mascot Mingus, a purple octopus who holds a paintbrush and wears a beret.

Cartoon Allies

Welcome, Cartoon Allies!

Cartoon Allies is a student-run organization at New York's School of Visual Arts. We unite students of all majors in a shared love of comics and art.

It is our mission to promote art beyond individual capabilty, representing students at multiple major conventions and even hosting our own comics festival, Fresh Meat, at the end of each school year.

The Cartoonist Alliance acts as a vital resource to SVA cartoonists and comics enthusiasts. Here, cartoonists offer each other a wealth of knowledge about our department, SVA, and the real world. Our weekly events bridge the gaps bewtween classes, providing social and professional resources for our student body.

A Brief History

Cartoon Allies was founded in 2002 by Tintin Pantoja. The comics marketplace our club now runs, Fresh Meat, supercedes the club's founding by one year, as it was founded by 2001 VASA President and New York Times bestseller, Raina Telgemeier.

SVA's student-run comics publication, INK--formerly Inkstains--was briefly combined with Cartoon Allies for five years, and Allies officers doubled as INK editors. Now INK has been reborn as a separate organization, linked in the sidebar.

Our Mascot

Image of Cartoon Allies' mascot Mingus, a purple octopus who holds a paintbrush and wears a beret.

Mingus the Octopus is the official Cartoon Allies mascot. He was created by officer Em Skelton in 2020! Mingus uses he/him and they/them pronouns!