{"id":24852,"date":"2019-06-11T11:58:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T11:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/about.35.197.208.187.nip.io\/?p=24852"},"modified":"2025-07-16T18:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:16:04","slug":"dirt-a-graphic-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zealous.co\/about\/spotlights\/dirt-a-graphic-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirt: A Graphic Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Percy Wakes, Dirt<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Could you tell us a little about your creative background? When did you start pursuing this art form?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been making comics for as long as I can remember and would make little comics as a hobby all throughout my school life. It was only in sixth form when I started seriously thinking I could pursue drawing properly, and I went to UWE a couple of years later, intent on making picture books and graphic novels. At the start of my third year, I had never made anything as long as Dirt<\/em> before. All my comics before were a couple of pages long at best, and I wanted to challenge myself to make something lengthier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a graphic novelist, what do you feel distinguishes the medium from other narrative forms? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think graphic novels are limitless. You can tackle pretty much any subject matter within a graphic novel, and in such a succinct and accessible way. It\u2019s such a broad medium to work in, with so many different genres and potential audiences. I think Dirt <\/em>could have only been presented as a graphic novel. It couldn\u2019t have been a book or a film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mourning Today , Dirt\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You were inspired by a series of graphic novels including <\/strong>\u201c<\/strong>The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil<\/strong>\u201d <\/strong>by Stephen Collins<\/a>. How has this manifested within your own work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Collins has a great way of having his characters speak as though nothing about their predicament is unusual. I found great inspiration in having characters talk as though their extraordinary circumstances have only mildly inconvenienced them at best. I think the way my characters interact with one another owes a great deal to Stephen Collins, and how he presents ordinary people dealing with fantastic situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your winning work \u201c<\/strong>Dirt\u201d<\/strong> <\/strong>tackles the topic of death, nevertheless you present your project in a delightfully humorous way. Is this satire a means of conveying an underlying message that is important to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially Dirt <\/em>was written as I thought a story about a corpse coming back to life would be morbidly quite funny to draw. The more I wrote, the more it became about grief and moving on. I\u2019d like to think that Dirt<\/em> isn\u2019t really that profound, but it\u2019s about making use of the time that you\u2019re given, because nobody lives forever. Beyond that, I think I just wanted to tell the story of a relationship dealing with a real loss but moving forward in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bandsaw, Dirt\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is your process when it comes to creating a graphic novel?<\/strong> What comes first, the text or image, and how does the project take form?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They both come at the same time. I\u2019ll draw a tiny little thumbnail of what I want the page to look like and then write a short script next to it. It\u2019s then chopped and changed a lot of times to make the text compliment the image, and vice versa. I wrote the first 30 or so pages of Dirt<\/em> back in my first year of university, and had a sketchbook full of these tiny thumbnails, and just shelved it for years! I only wanted to come back to it when I knew I had the time and the ability to tell the story the way I wanted it to be told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you working on any other exciting projects that you can tell us about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m working on a picture book about a city that gets shrunk down and relocated to inside a man\u2019s head, which is as ridiculous as it sounds. I think after I graduate I would l like to make another long form graphic novel like Dirt<\/em>. I\u2019d love to make a story about working in retail or the service industry, and just take my worst experiences of working in those kind of jobs and draw them out. It\u2019d be quite cathartic, I think. I have a big list back at my house stuck to the fridge of ideas I\u2019d eventually like to make, hopefully I get through a fair chunk of it in the next couple of years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mortally Challenged, Dirt\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Initiatives such as t<\/strong>he<\/strong> Batsford Prize can be a great means of getting your work out there. How has the prize helped you in your career and what top-tip would you give to other emerging creatives who want to gain more visibility?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prize has given me great contacts, with people in the publishing industry taking a sudden interest in my work. Take every opportunity with competitions, as you never know where they could end up and it\u2019s always worth a go. Also, prepare if the opportunity presents itself. I made sure my website was up to date and had business cards to give people at the Batsford event, as I knew it was a rare opportunity to have publishers coming to see my work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website<\/a>\u00a0\/ Follow Lewis on\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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