Every action is a step

Again, a few months have passed. I’m not quite sure how, I think maybe time feels like it moves quicker when you’re kneck deep in concentration. I’ll try to hit the broad strokes quickly and then share some more interesting bits for you.

Haru: Book 1 has been fully released in paperback now!

I had a little book launch event in Bristol, which was wonderful, surrounded by so many lovely friends and family. It was really a dream!

That was quickly followed by a signing in Gosh! Comics in London, which was also really fun, and an absolute privilige to have been able to do. The bus journey on the way home was tough in my emotionally weakened state, however.

Lustration is back in stock

Here’s the link

Someone asked me about reprinting this a while back, I only ever print short runs because it’s expensive to print and my storage space is limited. If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with this book, it’s a collection of short stories about complicated emotions. Existential problems. Sometimes wrapped in folklore.

I ran a workshop for Kids Comics Unite (KCU)

For my agent, Janna (hey Janna!). She’s the best!
The workshop was titled ‘How To Build Your Visual Storytelling Process’ and I really loved doing it. I shared some information on my process and tried to share some tips on helping be the most you that you can be.

Haru: Book 2 Progress & Update

The publishing process is fascinating to me, and I’m really lucky to have connected with the people I have at Andrews McMeel - I feel like they genuinely care about me and my weird little comics. That’s all I could ever ask for.

So the current situation with Book 2 - I finished the artwork a few weeks ago, and my biggest lessons from working on a 270 page graphic novel in one persistent run are:
1/ I enjoy inking and pencilling pages a LOT.
2/ Colouring all those pages caused me physical pain. I don’t know if it’s my setup or what, but it hurt.
3/ I love writing, and I love drawing, in equal measures. Selfishly, both practices help me to untangle the mess of my mind.

After handing in the artwork, and laying out the text, the document was then proof read. I absolutely love this stage - a book so large definitely hits a case of ‘can’t see the forest for all the trees’, so having fresh eyes help go over everything, and alert me to my mistakes, it’s such a wonderful stage. I always feel embarrassed when I make silly mistakes but so incredibly greatful to be able to fix them before anyone else sees it.

And that’s that, really. I just finished the second stage of proof edits on some small elements of the artwork, and hopefully things will move forward on the other side next.

I also heard from my agent that Haru had a great presence at Bologna Book Fair this year, which is another dream come true! I had no idea it was going to be there, so when Janna showed me a picture of a banner with my artwork on it, I nearly cried.

So much of this feels like wandering through the dark woods, you just don’t know if anyone else is with you, and if they are, can they see you? That sounds like a much spookier metaphor than I intended, but I’m gonna leave it there and will ponder on that.

Anyway, here’s the front cover and a spread from Book 2. You may have seen this cover listed online already, but if not, hopefully this is a treat. Thank you again for reading this far, I really appreciate you being with me on this journey. I don’t really know who I am or what I’m doing, but every action is a step in a direction. Every day’s a school day. Everything is always a work in progress.