Cloudbusting - the graphic novel

pg 1

Whilst working on the blackbird project, I've also been developing a concept for a graphic novel. The concept occurred in a dream after reading Eric Drooker's Flood. I've decided to reveal exclusively the first page. I may update this blog with more pages, unless the government come to destroy my research...

Synopsis

“Cloudbusting” – a graphic novel

Helen Dearnley

The working title for this graphic novel is “Cloudbusting”, it is written and illustrated by Helen Dearnley BA (hons) Fine Art & Illustration University of Lincoln.

The concept occurred in a dream after going to sleep reading Eric Drooker’s Flood, and conflates the dream alongside real events, graduating at the time of the 2008 recession, following previous research.

Entirely conceived during the 2012 UK floods, the events that occurred over a two year period were about as horrendous as anything illustrated in Flood, but from the perspective of a single parent.

The starting point of Cloudbusting is a dream, in which a female and a male colleague are seen working together, heaving a large, heavy, covered object up a hill. They appear as small silhouettes.

The characters in Kate Bush’s original video have been re-appropriated to place the woman as the “Professor”, and her male colleague working together. This is because the concept is entirely from a female perspective, and the male colleague is not in reality working together on this.

In the dream, I was working together with someone that in real life is not a colleague – he is the mysterious male protagonist whose identity remains secret.

At the point after the government come to destroy the research at the end of Kate Bush’s video, the pair are torn apart from each other, and the style of the illustrations at this point change specifically with reference made to Andrzej Klimowski’s The Depository; the female protagonist finds herself trapped in a vitrine in The Depository.

Much like Eric Drooker's Flood, the protagonist existentially experiences grief, eviction, false accusations, DWP abuse and neglect, referenced in the short sequence "Jobkill", which directly references Norwegian illustrator Hariton Pushwagner, and documents the effects of the age of austerity on single parents.

And people walk around the city with their umbrellas, much like Flood, but it is Lincoln, summer, 2012.

The blackbird is being used as a metaphor, with direct reference to Fleetwood Mac’s track Rhiannon, Stevie Nicks' project based on the Welsh witch and the Three Birds Of Rhiannon.

Rhiannon has three birds that sing to relieve pain.

Rhiannon also cannot marry a mortal king, for if she does this, she will lose all her wisdom.

Helen is available for talks at a cost of £200 per hour, including prep time.