Ahead of the free SEQUENT’ULL Comic Art Festival taking place in Hull on Saturday 31 August 2024, organiser and fellow creative Sean Azzopardi chats to event guests and talks further with independent comics writer Lily Williams…
Can you tell us something about yourself and your work?.
My name is Lilly Williams and I am a comic artist and illustrator. I am a mother of two and since the birth of my first baby, a lot of my comics have been about the experience of becoming a parent.
I started making diary comics when I was pregnant with my first baby during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comics are told from the point of view of my alter ego, a yellow cat person I call “Scaredy Cat.”
I was amazed by the strange, intense, gross, beautiful, funny and exhausting experience of being pregnant and becoming a mother. Isolated by lockdown during the pandemic, I looked for other people’s stories about it and found them few and far between, so I started writing my own.
In 2021 I exhibited the work in a solo exhibition “I am a sexy cat person performing the miracle of life” and in 2022 I found other illustrators working on the same theme and was part of the exhibition, Lullabies in lockdown.
I also make comics about other things, like having a hard time getting out of bed, or burrowing into another world where animals and plants can talk and ideas are living beings called Gary and Almond.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently working on a book about pregnancy and birth, more of a factual guide written by a midwife, but I’m not sure how much I can tell you about it yet, it will be a while yet. I also have an exciting project with a children’s theater group ahead of me.”The herd“, creating an illustrated map of play in Hull city centre.
Why comics, what are the main motivations for working with this medium?
I love the interplay of words and images. I studied fine art and did a lot of painting and drawing, but I couldn’t stop incorporating words into my drawings and images. Eventually it clicked that I should make comics!
I also think that comics as a medium is very democratic and accessible. You can buy a cheap fanzine and read it in your room, you don’t have to go to a big fancy gallery and stand there staring and wondering if you’re doing it right. And you don’t have to make a lot of money to take a comic home. I love all art forms and get a lot of inspiration from gallery visits, but the elitism of the fine art world has always bothered me, I felt more comfortable in comics.
So much creative time is absorbed by attending social media, conferences and other PR tasks. While it is necessary to some extent, is it worth it?
I recently had to take a break from social media, it was making me so anxious and affecting my ability to raise my kids and carry on with my work, so I don’t really know! I think if you can find healthy ways to interact with your audience, that’s really great.
One of the best things I did was share the first draft of my book Scaredy-cat gets pregnant I got so much lovely feedback from people on my Instagram followers, it gave me confidence in the work and I felt connected to people all over the world who had similar experiences to me.
I love conferences because you get to meet people face to face. It can be overwhelming, but I think it’s worth it! They’re community events that bring people together, and I think that’s really important.
Do you feel connected to the comics scene in any way?
The comics scene in Hull is small but we know each other and support each other where we can and this event is very exciting for me! I also feel very connected to the wider creative community here in Hull.
I had mentoring through LD Comics and that made me feel connected to the larger comics community. I gave a talk at the Graphic Medicine conference a few years ago and by attending that I felt connected to that community to some extent as well.
Can you recommend some current developers who are doing good stuff?
Oh, there are so many brilliant artists out there. On the topic of parenting and pregnancy, I love Pia Bramley‘s work and Beth Dugglebywho curated the Lullabies exhibition has written beautiful illustrated poems on this topic. I really enjoy Rachael Smith‘S Nap Comics also to that. Jessica Green has called a brilliant comic about the decision not to be a mother No momand all their work is amazing.
I recently read Natasha Natarajan‘S FML Comic collection that I really liked, and Camille Jourdys Graphic Novel Juliette: Or: In spring the ghosts return totally blew me away.
Have you ever been to Hull?
I visited Hull about ten years ago and I’m still here!
• Lilly Williams is online at lillywilliams.net | Instagram
• SEQUENT’ULL Comic Art Festival 2024
11.00 am – 6.00 pm Saturday, August 31, 2024 | Free admission
Jubilee Central, 62 King Edward Street, Hull HU1 3SQ
• Facebook event page
Independent comic book artists and publishers who sell comics, graphic novels and prints.
Exhibitors include: Breakdown Press, Colossive Press, Footprints Workers CoOp, Michelle Freeman, Sarah Gordon, Gareth Hopkins, Jake Machen, Shane Melisse, Douglas Noble, Alex Potts, Scarborough Zine Library, Mark Stafford, Lucy Sullivan, James Webster Sharp, Dan White and Lilly Williams
One of many guest contributions for downthetubes.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, Making Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
