Hey guys….I’m creating a diabetes graphic novel!!!

I’ve been thinking about how to create a graphic novel that doesn’t see me disappear into solitude, and creating it here on Patreon seemed to be the best way to do it. 

As I’m doing this in a non-traditional way, (which I’ve started seeing more and more creators do!) as well as sharing my creative process week by week, the graphic novel I’m creating on Patreon won’t necessarily be in chronological order, and will probably go through a hefty editing process at the end. My hope is that I can find a publisher to publish it. 

So what is “Invisible Battles” about???  

Here is the synopsis:

“Everyone’s experience with diabetes is different and life with diabetes is not an even playing field. That is what Janina quickly learned when she met an unlikely group of friends who all had the same chronic disease as her – type 1 diabetes. Together they would soon discover the dark side of the public arena of diabetes – advocacy, the black market, celebrity, and a world that seems hell bent on exploiting them all to the point of death. But Janina and her friends are determined to make the voices of people living with diabetes heard and beat the corporate machine that would stop at nothing to silence them.”

The hardest part of creating a graphic novel is starting. Where to start? There are so many intersecting stories and threads that I want to look at in detail, as well as experiment with illustration techniques, graphic medicine and comic narration to tell compelling stories.

Starting is hard. Did I say that already? 

So I decided that’s it’s best to start with my story. How did I get thrown into the rabbit hole and find myself immersed in this diabetes “wonderland”? 

My story starts in a place that maybe many of you have experienced in your own jobs and careers. I’d been working as a graduate architect in Melbourne, Australia, where long hours were the norm and my diabetes was suffering. I also didn’t like my job. 

Something had to change…and I was about to get a kick in the ass that would send me on an unknown path into the completely different world of diabetes. 

Full pages of Invisible Battles is available for Juice Box and Skittles Tiers, which you can access here: https://tinyurl.com/bdcpw8j5 

There will be behind the scenes updates on Skittles Tier, where I will share more personal thoughts about process and thoughts behind the creation of Invisible Battles.