What
Made Collaborative is an immersive virtual studio experience. Our virtual Studio Cards are designed to facilitate collaboration with you by providing you with context on topics, concepts, characters and some of the people behind or Creative Commons comic project called the Back of the Yards.
Why
The Made Collaborative Studio was developed by Jimmy Briseno and Len Kody. Len and Jimmy began developing this virtual platform in 2020 when COVID emerged as a way of extending their original in-person classroom comic collaborations in the west side of Chicago to the virtual realm.
Who
In addition to Len and Jimmy, other project collaborators include John Golden, Eric Nyamor, Dan Dougherty and Manny Dominguez.
Every neighborhood has places that become part of its story.
The corner store everyone stopped at after school. The basketball court that belonged to the older kids after dark. A restaurant where everyone seemed to know each other. A front porch. A church. A vacant lot. A barbershop. An alley that served as a shortcut home.
Most of these places will never appear in a history book. But ask someone who grew up there, and they’ll remember.
That place. That person. That thing that happened there. Those are the details that make a neighborhood feel real.
And as we continue building the fictional neighborhood of our collaborative Back of the Yards comic series, want some of your memories to help shape the Ordinary World of our story.
So we’re beginning our Issue #3 collaborative workshop series with one simple question: What’s on place from your own neighborhood that you still remember?
And some of the places submitted through the Workshop belpw will become part of our fictional Back of the Yards.
We will start with at least three collaborator-inspired locations that will appear in scenes from Issue #3, with more included in future issues. And if your contribution helps inspire a location that appears in Issue #3, you’ll be credited as part of its development.
In this week’s Studio conversation, we look at how the world of Back of the YardsBhas developed—from the original youth workshops to the neighborhood taking shape in Issue #3.
We’ll talk about some of the places we remember from our own neighborhoods, why certain places stay with us, and how a real memory can become something new inside a fictional world.
Back of the Yards is a real Chicago neighborhood—with its own history, culture, institutions and generations of people who have called it home.
Our comic doesn’t attempt to recreate that neighborhood exactly.
Instead, the fictional Back of the Yards draws inspiration from the character of the real community while creating a world of its own—one shaped by our original youth collaborators, our artists and writers, and now, by people entering the Studio.
Want to explore the comic before entering the Workshop? Start with the Back of the Yards Studio Card to the right.
There you can read the comics, explore the current Issue #3 Working Manuscript, and get a better feel for the world we’re building through the Issue 3 Dossier.
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Across Issues #1 and #2, parts of the fictional Back of the Yards have already begun to take shape.
We know some of its streets. Its schools. Its homes. The places where our characters gather. And the places where some of the story’s stranger moments have begun to unfold.
But as Issue #3 develops, our characters will move through new parts of the neighborhood.
Some of those places haven’t been created yet.
That’s intentional.
We want this world to continue growing the same way it began: through collaboration.
Now think about your neighborhood growing up.
Not the whole neighborhood. Just One place. Maybe everyone knew it. Maybe only a few people did.
Maybe something important happened there. Maybe nothing important ever happened there.
But for some reason, you remember it.
What did it look like? Who was usually there? What happened there?
Why has it stayed with you?
Hold onto that place. Now it is time to put it on our map!
No drawing skills required. Just bring your imagination.
The featured Studio Cards below follow the path we’ll be taking as we build Issue #3 together. Over the coming weeks, we’ll feature these cards roughly in the order shown through our own weekly workshop podcasts – using each one to explore another character, question or part of the developing story with invited guest collaborators. You don’t have to wait, though. Explore the cards now (simply by flipping any card to its reverse side), jump ahead, and participate wherever the Studio is already open.
Introducing a New Hero’s Journey
Back of the Yards!
All Stories Start With
A Great Character!
Who is…
Andre Davis?
Who is…
Tamia Parker?
Who is…
Cerria Cortez?
Who is…
Nick Zomski?
Who is…
Carl Castaneda?
All Stories Start With
A Great Character!
Who is…
Andre Davis?
Who is…
Dex?
The Monahans!
Andre’s Favorite Comic!
Who is…
Tamia Parker?
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book. iPad/iPhone users, submit images from FILES (NOT from Photo Library).
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
Collaborate with professional artists by contributing some artwork of your own! Some special pieces may be selected to appear in the Back of the Yards comic book.
UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES BELOW
