I was struggling to think of what I could say as a comic creator to respond to the understandable outburst of anger and grief over the recent George Floyd killing, and the extreme prejudice and injustice that have lead up to it.
Seeing some of the social media responses to the murder and its causes, I realised that the bar is low. You don’t have to be an expert in political activism to respond in a positive way. As the strip says, the message may be basic and obvious to many, but it clearly still isn’t getting across to all. Racism and prejudice is something to keep working against for our whole lives, and I have to do more to not be so complacent about it.
One way that creators of fiction like me, can help move this forwards is introducing more diversity to their characters, especially amongst their protagonists. I wrote a post about this over on the JKP blog here!
Announcing the launch of my hardback picture book for adults and all ages due out on 21st August 2018, What the Hell Just Happened?!: Comfort and Wisdom for When Your World Falls Apart. More so than most of my work, this was written and drawn, straight from my heart and guts!
Consider it a friendly pick-me-up to clear the mind and set you up to make plans for a positive future, like a chat and drink with a good friend. It’s visual comfort and wisdom for anyone who’s going through a tough time, be it a bad break up, the loss of a job, failing an exam, losing a loved one, not getting a promotion, or any other difficult life challenge. Also good as a nice day-to-day lift!
Writing and drawing comicsand books can be an incredible cathartic experience and this was a perfect example of creating something in order to work through stuff! As ever though, I’ve aimed to make the book universal for as many people as possible, facing whatever their own troubles and burdens might be.
Drawn in dip pen and ink, it may have been my most enjoyable book to illustrate, and has some of the artwork I’m most proud of.
Here’s what Jessica Kingsley Publishers say about What the Hell Just Happened?!…
You feel like you’re…how can I put it…falling?’
This inspirational gift book helps readers overcome troubling times in their lives. Through vivid illustrations and positive affirmations, the book shows how you can face your past and embrace your future. The author provides thoughtful tips to remind you of what you can be at your emotionally strongest and smartest.
Written by successful graphic novelist Richy K. Chandler, this will help you face life head-on and appreciate all that is good in your life. Ideal to gift to anyone going through a rough patch, or for use by therapists and counsellors.
Plus other nice things said about the book by awesome people…
‘This charming little book by Richy K. Chandler works like a lifebuoy. When you feel down, reach out and grab it. As you travel through this colourfully and weirdly caricaturized world, eventually you will find yourself kicking away from the depths of sadness and reaching toward the light above you.’
– Chie Kutsuwada, Manga-creator and illustrator
‘When life throws you a curve ball, grab comics pioneer and illustrator extraordinaire Richy K. Chandler’s What the Hell Just Happened. In this beautifully drawn comic, not only will you be guided through encounters with the dragons of your past and any heavy anchors of regret, but, with the help of a large mallet, you will also be advised how to thrash a few flying meteors of powerlessness. This is a truly ground-breaking self-help comic!’
– Dr Sarah Lightman, Eisner-Award winning author and comics artist, and co-founder of Laydeez do Comics
Okay, so Lucy the Octopus has been a big part of my life for many years now. She popped into my head while doodling around twelve years ago and her personality took shape in a mini-comic Tempo Lush brought out in 2007.
Eventually Lucy became a constant companion as I wrote and drew 212 of her weekly strips starting in 2012 (just noticed the serendipity of that), appearing online and collected in five comic-books over four years. I’ve had an amazing response from readers around the world, relating to Lucy’s struggles and enjoying her story. I’ve also had the pleasure of talking about Lucy at many events for adults, as well as to thousands of children and teenagers in dozens of schools, libraries and hospitals around the U.K.
So, of course, the idea of a printed collection of the whole Lucy story is something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. Jessica Kingsley Publishers had published my children’s picture book You Make Your Parents Super Happy! and, through it’s imprint Singing Dragon, also released my graphic novel When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job?! I was thrilled when they agreed to publish a beautifully produced hardback collection of the strip, complete with new material.
Giving extra value to the collection are special online activity sheets for PSHE and creativity focusing on some of the themes of Lucy’s story: bullying and prejudice, available through a special code found in the book.
Here’s what Jessica Kingsley Publishers say about Lucy the Octopus…
Lucy is an incurably uncool teen, and an octopus. For no reason at all (other than that she isn’t very “girly”), she is very unpopular, and even her parents don’t like her! The only friend who will hang out with her in public is Puffy, her pet puffer fish. But Lucy’s haters don’t know that she is secretly an awesome guitarist, and she has been picked to join everyone’s favourite local band, Lamington Fuzz. While Lucy rocks at doing her own thing, her classmates realise that spending time with the “cool kids” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…
Richy K. Chandler’s latest graphic novel is a celebration of being who you are, and a story about why it pays to be kind. Bubbling with fun and wit, it will buoy up the self-esteem of children aged 9+, and is a delight to read for big kids of any age.
The book is available to buy now, through the coolest book shops, as well as online at these lovely sites…
‘”Drawing pictures all day. Nice work if you can get it, eh? I suppose you haven’t had so much time to focus on a proper career…”‘
I am thrilled to announce that my first graphic novel, When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job? – Parenting and the Creative Muse, will be published by Singing Dragon on November 21st 2017.
Here’s what their site says about the book…
“This witty, insightful graphic novel explores the challenges faced by artists in today’s society, through the life of a comics creator named Tariq. Creative block is the least of Tariq’s worries, as he struggles to be a `good enough’ father while pursuing a career that is underpaid and underappreciated. Swapping notes with other parents in creative professions, and driven by his artistic muse, Tariq maps out a plan for making his art and his other responsibilities work together in harmony – most of the time.”
You can order the book directly from Singing Dragon when it comes out (use the code Y17 for a 10% discount), as well as from Amazon.
Here’s a pic I started doodling behind my table at MCM London in October…
As usual, I began in pencil…
Added inks…
Scanned the picture into my mac…
Started the colouring process, marking out different flat areas on different layers of Photoshop – background…
Midground…
Foreground (I wasn’t planning to keep this bright pink, but at this stage it’s easier to see what I’m doing with a strong contrasting colour)…
Here’s these main areas with the line work on top…
And here’s the different areas completely marked, and the colours adjusted.
I also added some shadow on the ground…
Now there’s some texture on the tube things…
I’ve started to add more details to the ground colour and changed the big creature’s pupils. Less cute but more funny looking…
Now there’s texture on the ground too, and the woman is completely coloured, including lighting.
The woman’s face wasn’t standing out enough against the tubes behind her, so I added a bit of white around her to spotlight her a bit…
I toned down the white, so it was barely noticeable but still does the job.
I added the basic colours for the creature. I’m trying to limit the range of colours to give the pic its own vibe.
It was great focussing on different textures in this piece…
And there you go! All done…
This is going to end up as the cover from a new Tempo Lush collection coming out next year…
Okay, so a few weeks ago I finished creating theLucy the Octopus comic strip which I’ve been working on since 2012.
I planned to have a bit of a send off at my favourite comic shop Gosh Comics in Soho, London. I timed the final strip to go online the same day that the last print issue, Just the Dregs, would be released… Thursday 6 Oct 2016.
Parties are always more fun with more people involved and two of my good friends, both immensely talented creators, were kind enough to offer to share celebrations with me. Francesca Dare was launching her latest Penny Blackfeather comic…
And Amber Hsu of One Pound Poems created a special poetry zine in time for the event, The Moon and the Eye…
The good people of Gosh Comics helped prepare, including Nora Goldberg-Fourrel who pulled together a great poster when we barely had any art ready for it…
And soon it was the night of the Small Press Live Show!
Here’s all our new material ready for the party goers to look at and purchase…
Trying to keep our launches interactive and fun, we asked attendees to write insults for Lucy, as well as some compliments. These would come into play during the musical section of the evening later on…
Box drawings by Francesca…
Writer and cake baker extraordinaire, Nas Bee made some delicious Pear & Chocolatecake for the event…
And we were off! Francesca introduced the night…
…before Amber delighted the crowds with the first of four poems taken from her new collection…
Then Francesca gave us a little insight into the making of Penny Blackfeather (as well as panda romance)…
We’d asked the party goers for some spontaneous questions for Francesca to answer. Some were comic related. Some were way off topic!
Amber treated us to to a beautiful poem on a difficult subject…
Then it was time for the Lucy the Octopus Musical (of sorts), which I’d been writing for a few months. I was glad to have frequent collaborators and musical friends alongside me (from left to right) Miki Mangione on ukulele / vocals, Miss E (Enoma Igiehon) on guitar / vocals (both from my old band Kablooie) and comic creator Sally-Anne Hickman on percussion and vocals.
Best selling illustrator Mike Medaglia was kind enough to jump in and control the imagery in the background of the musical…
And the audience did an amazing job learning words and singing along when needed!
The unmistakable silhouette of Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier…
I already knew Amber Hsu is multi-talented but was blown away at how easily and well she handled being narrator. We’d not had a chance to rehearse altogether before, but the first performance was great fun and I’m very proud of my musical troupe…
The evening rolled on with more entertainment! Another poem from Amber, The Poet…
Francesca said a few thank yous…
…and Amber did her final poetry reading of the night…
Then to round off the entertainment, Miss E and I had a bit of a musical battle (which she clearly won – amazing guitarist that she is) and we all went on to play a surprise cover tune, where Francesca and Amber joined in on maracas…
I was very grateful for the amazing contributors who lent their talents to the night and everyone who came along to join in the fun, including my old friend and amazing musician / singer Piney Gir…
From left to right: Writer / cake baker Nas Bee, Francesca Dare, Me, Amber Hsu and talented musician and composer Garo Nahoulakian…
It was a great evening! Cheers all! Thanks to Nas Bee, Pete Bunzl, Amber Hsu, Tibah Hussain and Cherish York for photos and videos!
One of my favourite days of comic workshops this year was back in March when I visited a lovely school called Waltham St Lawrence Primary School in Twyford.
Teacher Zoe Cubbage was incredibly helpful on the day and was kind enough to send some comments from the children…
“Richy’s drawings were very good, especially when he drew the boy’s hair.” Thomas “He inspired me to also write comics as well!” Hannah “I liked when he drew pictures for the classes.” Lettie “He had a very good imagination.” Beth “He does very good guinea pigs pooing out rainbows with a top hat.” Dominic “I want to be an artist and he inspired me to become one.” Poppy “He is really funny.” Jared “He is really talented.” Emily “He knows how to put the pictures together so there are no gaps. This was quite clever.” Matilda “He did better drawings so now I do better drawings because he inspired me.” Harriet “He has a good growth mind set.” Azaan “He has the best drawings that I have seen so far.” Jack R “I really enjoyed having him here.” Jack B “I think his comics were really funny.” Amelie “I really enjoyed the day and I will never forget it.” Jessica “I think he is really good at drawing and he has inspired me to have a go.” Vinnie “He taught me a new way of drawing.” Callum “He is the best drawer in the world!” All of Skylar
Zoe also sent some copies of some of their amazing comics strips. It’s wonderful to see what the pupils could achieve after just one short workshop. Enjoy!
Leon…
Sarah…
Unknown artist…
Dom…
Hannah…
Harriet…
Lettie… Matilda…This Kiss by unknown creator…
Thomas D…
In March I had the pleasure of visiting Woodside High School in North London to run a couple of comic making workshops with some very talented students, chatting about my work and finding out who was already reading any comics…Soon the participants were developing their own characters thinking about how the look of someone starts to tell that person’s story…There were some great drawings and ideas, including depictions of very angry teachers…I finished off each workshop suggesting how the characters could feature in their own short comic strip…
Towards the end of last year I was lucky enough to get to run a series of workshops organised by Steve Marchant for the Cartoon Museum’s Comic Creators Project, partnered with Mind In Harrow. Alongside Mind’s Emily Danby we developed a series of comic creating workshops for adults experiencing stress, anxiety or low mood.
Right now you can see work from the group on display at the Cartoon Museum in London. It’s makes me very happy to look back at this work and see what the group achieved during and after the 8 weekly workshops.
Nice to see the participants tackle lettering, story structure and facial expressions.I started off easing the participants into the world of creating comics by having them add their own elements to one of my own comics pages. Great to see their own individual styles and ideas shining through…A mix of emotions in cake!Some of the resulting complete strips were so funny……others were touching and powerful……and all were impressive and inventive… It was really gratifying to read these comments from some of the participants:
“We are a group of creative people who, with the support of Mind in Harrow, have been exploring the power of cartoon art as a tool of self expression. We all have lived experience of anxiety, depression and other related issues and we also share a talent for art, which this course has helped us to use as an outlet to manage conflicting emotions.
The Comic Creators course has opened up our minds to a new perspective on comic art and graphic novels. We find ourselves to be more expressive… through art, giving us an individual aspect of ourselves in our artwork. This helps break down the prejudice, stigma, and discrimination of people with mental health issues, taking away the conventional ideas that you cannot be creative or talented with mental health issues. It overcomes our self-doubt and fills us with the confidence to create art in our own style.
We came together and learned so much more than we expected to know about comics. Through the course, we also learned that we are not alone in our ideas of life, humour, and a good story narrative. This brings back our confidence and feelings of being connected to society.”
“The comic creators course opened a new world to me. I used to love comics for their story and art, but now I see how it helps people express themselves, to relax and think about what we hear, see, feel on certain things.”
“The course helped me tap into my creative energies.”
“What did I think of the course? Wow! Loved it! Enlightening and cool.”
“I never had much interest in comics as a child, and I wondered whether the course would be for me. I’m so glad I joined! An excellent course and tutor. It was exciting expressing the surge of images, ideas and comic concepts which came swirling in my mind, and putting them into visual form. I’ve really caught the comic bug!”
Towards the end of last year I was asked a few questions about my involvement with the amazing series of events / movement that is Laydeez Do Comics, as well as the role gender plays as a comic creator. The related article looks unlikely to be published now but Guardian journalist Tola Onanuga‘s questions raised some interesting points so I thought I would put the Q&A up here…
Tola: How did you get involved with Laydeez do Comics? Richy: I first went along to see my friend, the manga artist Inko, talk back in 2011 when Laydeez Do Comics took place off Brick Lane. I was a little nervous of how men would be received in the group but it turned out to be one of the most welcoming comic events I’d been to. Soon afterwards I was asked to create one of their monthly graphic blogs ( see here! ) and later to give a presentation of my own work. I’ve enjoyed attending most of the monthly meetings in London since then, and recently the creators of Laydeez, Nicola and Sarah, wrote about the positive impact of Laydeez Do Comics as a foreword to my comics anthology Tempo Lush Tales of the Tanoox. Tola: Why do you think events like Laydeez do Comics are important? Richy: While the readership of comics and graphic novels is diverse, the public perception of the medium seems to still be that it is largely almost solely male orientated. There need to be events which make an effort to welcome women into discussions of comics culture.
Laydeez Do Comics goes beyond creating a comfortable space for different genders to feel included. It involves contributors from a wide range of backgrounds and ages working in different genres. It even lets first time creators discuss their work alongside comics veterans.
Tola: Where do you find inspiration for your art? Richy: I grew up making comics, my world immersed in Peanuts strips, Disney films and Hannah-Barbara cartoons. Its natural to me to express my thoughts and frustrations through creative means. I think more and more people are turning to comics as a form of cathartic self-therapy. Right now, parenthood is influencing my work, and while the giants of comics and cartoons still inspire me, local creators like Amber Hsu (Tiny Pencil) and Simone Lia (Fluffy) also have a huge impact.
Tola: What role, if any, do you think gender plays in a comic artist’s chance of success? Richy: You wouldn’t think it was an issue sitting amongst the open minded folk at Laydeez Do Comics, or visiting the artist alley at virtually any comic convention where you’ll find no lack of talented female creators. However, if you compare the high percentage of women who have an interest in comics with the much smaller number who get their work published there’s clearly a discrepancy.
Tola: Where did the inspiration for your heroine Lucy the Octopus come from? Richy: The Lucy the Octopus strip allows me to look back at times of feeling bullied and ostracised at school. By making the protagonist both an octopus and a girl I avoid any self-conciousness that would come from a more direct autobiography. I wanted to make Lucy a traditional “everyman” figure who happened to be a girl, but is relatable to everyone. Young boys growing up need female role models as well as male ones.Tola: What has been your favourite piece of work so far? Richy: Working on Lucy the Octopus for three years had been incredibly satisfying and it will be be bittersweet when I finish off her story next year. It’s also been really enjoyable collaborating with dozens of artists from the small press comics scene in my Tempo Lush Tales contemporary comics anthologies.
Tola: And finally, what are you currently working on? Richy: I’m developing a graphic novel focussing of the pressure to fulfil societal gender roles from a male perspective. It’s about a lumberjack raising a son while keeping his passion for cake baking suppressed!
