Before I was published, I had an Instagram account where I’d draw a single image and write some words to give it more context and expand the story. It’s not something I scoured the market to create – looking for a ‘gap’ that needed filling – I just did it because it was fun.
After a while, I tried to describe to myself what the fun bit was. I landed on “short adventures in words and pictures.” Over time, this fun little exercise was noticed by a publisher who saw that, perhaps, I could do this professionally.
And so I did. For a number of years. I’ve illustrated my own writing, and, more often, I’ve illustrated others writing. But either way, it’s always been about the relationship between words and pictures.
And now, I’ve discovered I’m leaning into a new medium – comics. It might seem ‘different’ from children’s books (and sure, it is, a bit) but it’s also fundamentally about words and pictures. The difference between children’s books and comics is the level of complexity one gets with the word/picture relationship. Picture books appeal to the minimalist in me, Comics appeal to the film director in me.
Yes, the children’s work is more lucrative and commercial because the ‘market’ is there and businesses have been built up, for many years, to serve that market. But comics is becoming an increasingly interesting and useful part of my practise; not my work practise, my art practise.
In the end, the general thrust is the same – short adventures in words and pictures for small and big people. I used to be the former, now I’m the latter. I never thought that the idea would last that long, let alone be the foundation for a decade’s worth of work. It’s funny how things work out like that.