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I’m Leah McEwen, an animator and illustrator. The majority of my work focuses on female protagonists and their experiences around identity, mental health and grief. I love using texture in my work, whether created traditionally or digitally recreated in drawing software.
I’ve always been drawn to creative hobbies, such as reading and drawing, and graphic novels perfectly intersect these two. Something that draws me to them is their physicality, both in terms of being able to hold it in your hands, as well as the ability to draw on how a reader interacts with your book to further your message (such as turning the page in moments of suspense, or creating full or double-paged spreads to create a sense of importance).
In my graduate project, I created a graphic novel, leave it all behind, where an alien species seeking refuge on Earth and two unlikely characters bond over their shared experience of losing a loved one. I am really interested in the concept of combining fantast aspects into very human and intimate stories.
leave it all behind is a graphic novel about friendship, understanding and grief. Bea, an alien, has to flee her planet and seek refuge on Earth. The two first meet at a graveyard, where they set off on the wrong foot, resulting in Olive running away scared. However, due to Olive’s new job delivering food baskets to the aliens, the two cross paths again. Although they don’t initially get along, an unlikely friendship begins between them. Through their time together, we learn of each of their experiences of grief. They both struggle through their experience but lean on each other for support.
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