Another year, another look back at everything I’ve managed over the last twelve months, comics-wise.
It feels necessary to celebrate the achievements, to give myself energy and enthusiasm for sailing into the new year. So let’s see…
Drawing comics
1. The Noisy Valley, the ‘scribbly little zine’ I thought I’d toss out to accompany a visit to my 2022 exhibition at The Workers, turned into something a lot more significant – and I’m still drawing it.
So far I’ve completed the introduction, plus nine people’s tales of protest – six of which were drawn this year. I’ve just finished writing the script from the final interview, and once I’ve drawn that there’s just the epilogue to go. So the end is in sight, although not massively soon, because as ever, work and life commitments mean progress is much slower than I would like.
I’ve been sharing the completed chapters on my Patreon, for subscribers on the middle tier. There’s also lots more on there, often open for everyone to read without subscription, detailing all my thoughts and experiences on comics.
2. DenCity was a wonderful anthology to be involved in, and I’m super proud of my contribution. This was an academic project and the resulting print comic was handed out for free at Thought Bubble, but only in limited numbers, so if you missed out it’s the PDF version for you.
Exhibitions
Only one this year – the slightly surprising and very welcome news that a page from Satin and Tat was shown in Lewisham shopping centre. Sadly, I didn’t get to see it myself but it’s nice to know that it was there, hopefully as a nice surprise for harried shoppers.
Events and talks
Looks like I gave 5 talks this year:
1. At Newton Abbot library’s great Pen & Ink festival. Travelling to this neck of the woods was a real treat for me because I grew up in the area, and it was so nice to be part of a new and ambitious festival for the area. I haven’t heard anything about it returning for 2024 though, so I’m not sure if it was a one-off.
2. At the South London Comics and Zine Fair, on a panel with Chloe Green, Lucy Sullivan, Alex Potts and Clio Isadora, talking about our works in progress.
3. At Oxford’s TORCH Comics as/and Resistance academic conference, sharing my own practice as examples of comics as activism. I wish I could share this but I don’t think they recorded it. The tech side of the event was a bit troubled.
4. Because I was in New York to accompany my playwright husband to the opening of his show on Broadway, I hosted an event at the Society of Illustrators’ Museum of Illustration talking about the Street Noise Books edition of Draw the Line, together with Tracey White and Joan Reilly.
5. And finally, at LICAF, I joined Karrie Fransman and Zara slattery talking about CCIC, the Comics Cultural Impact Collective – about which more later.
And also
Well, there’s the small matter of being shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel award for The Noisy Valley.
I may not have won, but they sure made us all feel special with the awards evening at Waterstones Piccadilly. And I’m hoping that the stamp of approval, the exposure and the number of publishers/agents in the audience mean that something may come of it yet.
It feels crazy that this competition – mounted only thanks to the dogged determination of its founder Corinne Pearlman – is one of the very few paths into being professionally published as a comics artist. This lack of opportunity is my main motivation for being part of CCIC, an organisation founded to help forge a more viable comics industry in the UK. We’re having an online roundtable on 16 January, so do come if you’re UK-based and involved in comics in any capacity, large or small.
And finally – I’ve been updating my Patreon pretty much weekly. If you’ve missed the frequency with which I used to blog about comics on here, it’s because I’m doing the same thing over there now. Do join us!
It means that you can support my ongoing work, and get to read the work in progress as well. Win-win! Here’s where to sign up to receive updates.
Myfanwy Tristram 