Partners in the Arts: Stephanie and Phil Fleming on love, comics and community

For Stephanie and Phillip Fleming, the line between creative partnership and life partnership has always been remarkably thin. Long before they launched a sequential storytelling education business The Comic Workshop, before artist residencies, graphic novellas and summer camps, Stephanie remembers meeting Phil as students at Savannah College of Art and Design and having a surprisingly clear thought: One day they would work together.

“When I met him, I was like, yeah, I’m probably going to be your agent one day,” she recalled with a laugh.

More than a decade later, that instinct has proven prophetic.

The couple, who met through mutual friends in 2014, now operate a growing comic workshop business that combines Phil’s expertise as a professional sequential artist with Stephanie’s background in curriculum design and arts education. Together, they teach youth and adults, create opportunities for working cartoonists and are quietly building what they hope can become a scalable model.

The idea for The Comic Workshop emerged in 2018 after Stephanie read The Pumpkin Plan by Michael Michalowicz. At the time, she was searching for a way to create something larger than her own individual art practice.

“I take his expertise as a subject matter expert, and then I design a custom curriculum,” she said.

The result was a workshop model centered on comics as a tool for storytelling, creativity and education. What began remotely has since grown into a physical studio and classroom space in Avondale Estates, where students can learn directly from professional artists.

That growth has been intentional and deeply intertwined with the couple’s relationship.

For two years after meeting, the pair maintained a long-distance relationship while pursuing separate opportunities. Rather than rushing to close the distance, they focused on their individual ambitions.

“We did long distance really well,” Stephanie said. “We’re both dreamers and chasing something.”

That philosophy continued when both enrolled in graduate school, Stephanie at the University of Michigan and Phil at California College of the Arts. The experience gave them a shared understanding of what it means to pursue creative goals while building a life together.

Today, those differences remain one of their greatest strengths.

Stephanie describes herself as a “30,000-foot visionary,” constantly thinking about future possibilities. Phil, meanwhile, is focused on the present moment and project execution.

Over time, each has borrowed from the other’s approach. Stephanie has learned the value of slowing down and staying present, while Phil has become more comfortable planning for the future, a balance that has become even more important since becoming parents.

Parenthood, Stephanie says, forced her to slow down in ways she never would have chosen on her own.“Everything takes me longer,” she said. “Becoming a parent has forced me to slow all the way down. Not because I want to, because I have to.” Yet, the shift has also sharpened her sense of purpose. When her day job unexpectedly closed, she took it as a sign to commit fully to her art practice.“I can’t say it didn’t work if I don’t give it my all,” said Stephanie.

The decision appears to be paying off. Phil recently published his first graphic novella and has expanded his convention presence, while Stephanie is developing new coaching programs alongside The Comic Workshop’s growth.

The workshop intentionally hires professional cartoonists and illustrators as instructors, creating additional revenue streams for working artists while ensuring students learn directly from industry practitioners. “We feed the full ecosystem,” explained Stephanie.

This summer marked another milestone as the organization launched its first camp season. The workshops continued even while Stephanie attended an artist residency, with another instructor stepping in to teach, living proof that the model can operate beyond its founders.

The Flemings’ long-term goal is not simply to teach comics but to train other artists to teach the curriculum as well. They plan to recruit cartoonists and illustrators and train them using the workshop’s proprietary educational framework.

Building that future has required persistence. As a for-profit business located outside Atlanta’s city limits, the workshop falls into a difficult funding gap. It is largely ineligible for many arts grants available to nonprofits or organizations located within the city.

Georgia consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in arts funding, and the region’s county-by-county structure can create barriers for artists who do not have an Atlanta address but still contribute significantly to the area’s cultural life. “We’ve been championing arts and culture in the county,” she said.

The couple’s creativity also extends well beyond their professional work. When planning their wedding, they approached the celebration as another collaborative art project.

Their engagement party embraced a Wakanda-inspired theme, complete with custom-designed sneakers and coordinated looks. Stephanie designed her wedding dress herself and her mother sewed the garment, helping bring a vision to life that required extensive research and problem-solving to achieve.Those creative collaborations reflect the same spirit that powers their business: a belief that art can be both deeply personal and community-centered.

Asked about the most meaningful conversations they have shared, Stephanie points not to artistic disagreements but to the recurring question of whether to keep investing in the workshop.

Like many arts ventures, the couple’s financial path has rarely been straightforward. Pushing forward often requires choosing purpose over certainty. Each time the question arises, they return to the same answer: “If your heart is telling you to do this thing, then that’s divine,” said Stephanie.

For the Flemings, a shared artistic conviction and overarching purpose has carried them through long-distance years, graduate school, parenthood and entrepreneurship. As their workshop continues to grow, they are proving that comics can be more than an artistic medium — they can be a very real way of building community, opportunity and a better future.

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Brittany Mackins is an Atlanta-based writer and creative with a deep love for the intersections of art, healing and community. Blending her background in journalism, brand storytelling, creative writing and event production, she writes to honor the stories behind the art, the lived experiences, emotions and cultural roots that shape creative expression. Her lens centers diverse artistry in all its expansive forms.