Thoughts and prayers
A comic made for Parallel Panels
10 weeks or so ago, I started Parallel Panels, an online writers’ room with 10 comic artists from Melbourne and Bucheon, Korea. Both are UNESCO Cities of Literature and the project was designed to foster connections between the two cities.
Before the writers rooms began, everyone submitted a comic both with and without text. There was a huge variety on show; some were funny, others poignant, a few weird or abstract. Each week we’d add our own text to two comics so that there was 10 different interpretations of each of our comics.
Here’s the process of creating mine, or scroll straight down to the bottom to read the comic in full!
Coming up with an idea
The brief was quite open-ended; we could make a comic on any topic we liked. In the group, some people used a page from an existing book or story, some used existing characters, some were autobiographical, others came up with something completely new.
For me, I’d been contemplating something bright and colourful. We went out on a snorkelling trip on the boat, and I decided I wanted to draw some of the sea creatures I’ve seen in French Polynesia, such as sharks, rays, turtles, and dolphins.
I came up with a regular scenario (Martin enjoying his coffee and a book on the boat while I have a dip) and made up a conversation that never happened. My favourite thing to see in the lagoon are turtles. They’re so wise and majestic, often resting on a coral or cruising by. If I’m lucky enough to have a sighting, I often say I was ‘blessed by the turtle gods’. This time I gave Martin that line.
Manifesting your own luck
I’d read about the newspaper study years ago that looked at luck and mindset. People were asked how lucky they felt themselves to be and then given a task to look through a newspaper and count all the photos. On the second page of the newspaper was a huge message that said ‘Stop! There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.’ Another message offered a $250 reward for telling the leads of the study you’d seen the message.
The people who considered themselves to be lucky were more likely to see both messages than those who considered themselves to be unlucky. I’m a pretty positive person, and that tends to result in pretty good luck most of the time. This comic has a fictionalised version of me with a fairly unlucky mindset, which is why she keeps missing all the sights.
I was also reflecting on how hopes and wishes are pretty much useless if you haven’t taken the actions needed for success. My snorkeller is bemoaning her lack of luck, but it’s really her lack of supplies and preparation that have led to an underwhelming experience. It was a reminder to myself that if there are things I’m not happy about, I’m often the one with the ability to change circumstances, but it needs more than moaning… it needs action!
Here’s the comic. Hope you enjoy, and let me know your thoughts below in the comments.
