The Bristol-based illustrator says comics have helped his mental health

An author says creating comics helped her overcome her mental health challenges.

Lucie Ebrey, 31, from Hotwells in Bristol, started drawing at the age of seven.

Her first children’s comic book Cowgirls and Dinosaurs has just been published.

She said: “I was always a restless child, but especially when I was on my own at university for the first time and I was dealing with so much work and so much stress.”

She said the process of drawing and planning comics became a useful tool to help her overcome her anxiety.

Mrs Ebrey has always been into comics and grew up reading Beano.

While studying illustration at Falmouth University, she began creating a daily comic journal to help her process her thoughts.

“I didn’t have the facilities to deal with (the anxiety),” she said.

Ms Ebrey said her comic journal helped her talk about her feelings with her friends.

She left university in 2015 and worked as a comic book writer and illustrator alongside two part-time jobs.

Her debut children’s comic is a graphic novel full of Western-inspired adventure

Ms Ebrey spent much of the Covid-19 lockdown working on the book and it was eventually released in America in 2023 and in the UK in June 2024.

The two main characters are female – something Ms Ebrey said was very important.

“I was a tomboy growing up, and even though I love comics, it’s a male-dominated space.

“I found it hard to relate to the girl characters, so I thought it was important to have two female characters who are quite different, but still friends.”

Ms Ebrey said she feels she has come a long way since creating her comic journals at university and is excited to be taking part in more book tours.

“It’s really nice that something I made in my flat in Bristol is there… it makes me feel more connected to the world.”