The Strange Case of The Very Strange Case - Comic
Part of the Hull Maritime City Project, I was commissioned by Hull Museums to develop a short comics tale that looked at the possible origins of the #HullKraken” invasion of the city a Giant Tentacle spectacular that ended up drawing a lot of tourists to the city to participate in the event.
You can find the full comic here - https://maritimehull.co.uk/uploads/images/The-Strange-Case-Comic.pdf
And the write up of the wider project here - https://maritimehull.co.uk/whats-happening/news/news-monstrous-maritime-mystery-draws-people-back-into-hull-following-pandemic-lockdown
The comic featured Lily and Jacob, two switched on kids who decide to do a little reading and uncover the mystery. The book has dozens of “Easter eggs” relating to the history of Hull and its maritime heritage.
I have just finished a second instalment of the comic featuring Lily and Jacob looking at a particular painting and the interlocking mythologies of its main subject…
The cover of the printed book, on of 5000 printed with a map of the #HullKraken event trail inside, as part of the Hull Maritime City Project.
A video that looks at some of the physical and digital creative process involved in creating a comic like this. From thumbnails and sketches, to final “inks”, and then lettering.
This page shows the mixture of classic illustration style for the storytelling of the main character, whilst a more “cartoonish” stylised approach for those main characters.
Here we see historical images of local buildings now gone, sometimes not necessarily included directly in the dialogue/script, adding a deeper meaning in the moment of “reading” the “text” of the comic. Showing the uniquely multi-modal nature of comics.
A large splash image for the back page of the book.
Examples of “box text” for narrative, plus “speech balloons” emanating from the speaking character.
More historical illustration style imagery for deeper narrative purpose.
Illustrations that used artwork found in the Maritime Museum as a starting point. Recontextualising them into this fictional setting whilst trying to evoke the real history.
More page layout examples.
Here you can see an image of the long lost isle of Ravenserodd, a historic site once located off the coast of Spurn Point, you can find a painting of this isle elsewhere in my portfolio created for Readers Digest.
More art examples.
Adding the notion of objects (the vase) as a connective tissue with museums, as well as the creature that appears on it as part of the overarching narrative.
Many of these characters, though fictional are based on actual historical figures, and use the names of actual local organisations and mention connections to historic institutions.
A final page/art example.
This video looks at another similar museum comics project, this time for Barnsley Museums - This book was created as an online participation event ran over ten days, then published in print as an outreach package. It also features a character using BSL.
Process work on the follow up comic to “The Strange Case…”, this time looking at the Draper painting of Ulysses and the Sirens held at The Ferens. This book has its own section in this portfolio.
Single panel illustrations created for Maritime Tales in conjunction with Hull Maritime Museum, these images where used as additions to the short films produced of local people giving select readings from works of fiction associated with the sea.