Focus™ Comic is part of a humanitarian project. Its objectives is to entertain readers whilst maintaining dignity for those on the spectrum by removing the stigma associated with autism. The social initiative also champion kids with autism by having a free internship program and art camp helping autistic kids fulfill their creative potential. The sole Creator Yvonne Wan introduced an internship program help autistic individuals gain greater representation in the comic industry, education sector and in the media. The purpose of the internship program is to help talented individuals to fulfill their potential and have their work recognized. Our comic demonstrates that individuals with autism can contribute in society in meaningful ways.
Yvonne Wan, certified social cultural anthropologist appointed Douglas Hebert as the main artist and internship coach for Focus Comic. Douglas Hebert is an award winning professional artist and also Elementary School Art teacher who has experience in teaching kids including those with autism. He teaches over 1,500 art students a year and have been providing one to one coaching to the Focus interns. He is also the head art teacher at the Focus comic art camp, which is free for autistic kids and young adults in Phoenix. Both Yvonne and Douglas coach the interns to help them fulfill their creative potential.
We appointed two art interns with autism (Malekith and Tabidi) to contribute to the community page within Focus Comic in 2018. The community page comprises of short comic strips.
Tabidi was later promoted to work on the main story with industry professionals.
In an interview Malekith expresses what this project means to him:
“Hi My name is Malekith, I am an intern of the Focus Comic and I’ve been drawing about Focus because he makes me feel really great about myself and awesome about myself. The reason why I like him is because he’s sort of similar to me because of him being autistic and so am I and people respect him. Doug helps me draw better because he’s a great teacher and I really like this cover. Because the Spiderman Colorist colored it which makes it amazing. I really really like Office Depot for giving me my own cover plus also the people out there who support autism awareness. Thank you”.
Here is a brief interview with Tabidi:
“I want to thank everyone for supporting this social cause including Yvonne Wan the creator of Focus, Douglas Hebert the main artist and internship coach, all the contributing artists, goodwill ambassador Tony Todd and Office Depot for giving me my own cover and for making my dreams come true. I want to especially thank them for supporting this cause because it will help millions of autistic children”.
In 2019, we appointed one art intern Zoe, to contribute to the community page within the French issue of Focus comic. Zoe is 7 years old, has autism and is non verbal. Drawing brings so much joy to her life, and she loves being part of this exciting Focus project, representing autistic young talent.
We also recently appointed Jett Yu (9 years old) to contribute to the community page within the Chinese issue of Focus comic. Jett’s favorite super hero is Focus and is excited to be part of the team and have the opportunity to get his art published. Jett had his art colored by the Spiderman Colorist Paul Mounts and Yvonne Wan.
We also recently appointed Michael Guardado, Blaze Fernandez and Charlie Mashinot and Jett Yu as our trading card interns. They are excited to show case their art on official Focus comic trading cards to the world.
Art teacher interns include Elisha & Josiah Perry.
The Focus comic art camp is free for autistic kids and young adults.
Please support Focus Comic. Please support autistic people. Please support autism awareness and acceptance.
Please check this page again in 2020 should you wish to apply for our next internship program.
