Smoo#4 is now available to buy from my shop. This issue deals, in an abstract sort of way, with being a teenager, and then, years later, realising that for all you don’t feel like one, you find yourself being a grown up. It was written in response to my parents moving away from Marlow, the small town in SE England where I spent my teenage years. Each copy comes with a print of a hand-drawn map of the town and, while stocks last, a tourist postcard and excerpts from the local newspaper, “The Marlow Free Press”. A shorter version was released at Thought Bubble last November. That was reviewed here.

A5, 28pp. White card cover.

£3.00 (UK)

£4.00 (anywhere else)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Example pages:

That’s right folks! I’ve recently found out that I’ve been offered a chance to exhibit my comics at the awesome and prestigious Toronto Comics and Arts Festival 2012. This is fantastic news, not least because of its reputation as one of the best comics shows happening at the moment. Unfortunately, I’ve been in and out of work for a while and have not got the resources to self-fund a voyage there. Comics don’t pay, and neither do short-term academic research posts. So, at the suggestion of my friends, I have popped the DONATE button up on the left to see if any friends, fans or well-wishers might wish to help me on my way*.

So why might you want to donate? Well, to be totally transparent, this event will obviously help my comics making ambitions no end. So perhaps it’s a little selfish - especially given the current situation in which so many of us find ourselves. However, those of you who have spoken to me or read my work will know that I also have a vested interested in  investigating and promoting links between comics and narratives of mental health. You may even know about Pictures in Frames’ sister site, Better, Drawn where people with experience of long-term mental and physical illness can share their stories in the form of comics.

My ambition for TCAF is that in collaboration with my friend and colleague Thom Ferrier of Graphic Medicine, we run a workshop or panel on comics and mental health. We hope to bring together makers, publishers, artists, readers and writers to openly discuss the role of comics in challenging stigma around mental health. It’s early days yet, but any amount, large or small, can help us make this ambition a reality. It is obviously only one step in a much larger project, but a valuable one we’d be so grateful to have a chance at realising.

If you think this is a cause that you might be able to get behind, please do consider donating what you can. Free comics, drawings and thank you letters to all those who donate after TCAF.

*the money will be spent only on airfare and accommodation. In the event that I do not attend TCAF, money will be returned to all donors.