PhD – Teague Fagan

Late update

Posted on 26/02/2025 by Jasmine

Sorry everyone for being late with my blog post this week. It’s half term and I’ve been exchanging rooms with my younger sister. It took two days and I was knackered afterwards, muscles still ache now. But it was worth it! I’ve got a much bigger room now so I can display my books proudly.

I will admit, my time has been eaten by my PhD work recently. I started making the new comic page for Teague Fagan and I haven’t finished it yet. I can imagine this will happen more often as I start prioritising my art time for the PhD graphic novel. Fear not though for I do not intend on abandoning this project (it’s just going to take longer to complete). Oh, why did I do this to myself? ;P

On another note, one job that I thought was promising ended up being an immediate dead end and I curse all marketing recruiters for taking the mick out of people looking for work. It means I’m stuck in my current work longer so let’s see how long I last*.

Also I’m a little late sharing the newest Comics of the Week. Please forgive me! Here they are in all their beauty and glory!

Week of Feb 23 – Mar 01

A Place in the World

Destiny? Choice? How do we determine our purpose in this world? These stories explore that idea.

Brothers – Brothers follows Brothers and Postmasters Sprout and Oz as they become unlikely heroes after discovering a mysterious magic mailbox.

True Colors – True Colors is about four incoming college students dreaming of a new start at their freshman orientation. But when a room assignment mix-up disrupts their plans, they’re forced to reexamine what kind of adults they want to become.

Kings of Sorts – Kings of Sorts follows Hana, an optimistic village outcast, whose knowledge of magitech puts him at the center of royal court conspiracies!
[Kings of Sorts Webtoon Mirror]

*insert dramatic music

Back on Track

Posted on 11/02/2025 by Jasmine

I’m very happy to say I’m back on track with my PhD proposal now. The latest has been read by both of my supervisors and not once was it thought that I strayed too far, so I am over the moon about this! 😀

The focus has moved from animism in a general sense and is now focusing on the sea in a pre-Christian animistic context. It will be building on my previous paper on the role of water in the Gaelic Otherworld and will result in the creation of a wordless graphic novel. I am very excited to get started on this and to see where it takes me – just needs passing the initial submission once the final edits have been made so I cannot get ahead of myself.

On another ironic note, it’s been tricky to sit down and focus on art recently. I’ve been experiencing fatigue quite a bit and I think it’s due to stress. I started on a comic page but then the motivation was lost. Has anyone felt that before? Hopefully some fruit juice will be help me with that.

We have our next round of Comics of the Week!

Week of Feb 09 – 15

What Lies Beyond

Three very different looks at what lies beyond the veil of our own plane.

The Bright Side – ‘The Bright Side’ is the story of a girl named Emily who befriends Death. Together, they grow and learn and are forced to challenge everything they think they know…

Numb – Susan and Levi are childhood friends who have drifted apart. However Levi ends up in an accident that has something else behind it than just careless street crossing. Old strains are being brought up and something sinister is lurking around.

Ash in the Wind – Alexis Brangwyn is a disillusioned college student who has lost interest in the real world until she discovers a mysterious book about a local legend. Seemingly by fate, she gets a chance to investigate the site (with her crush!), but when the two end up lost in another reality, they ask themselves if they truly want to return home.
[Ash in the Wind Webtoon Mirror]

Possible Medium for PhD research

Posted on 02/12/2024 by Jasmine

The possibility of using comics as a medium to express my research was brought up in my latest discussion with my supervisor last week. It did cross my mind that I could potentially do a series of images to tell a story and I have mentioned before that this webcomic is inspired by what I am researching (along with my personal interests like pirates, port towns, etc of course!) but I realised I never fully embraced the idea for my PhD research directly.

I am very excited at the idea, imagining all the things I could do! Especially with comic research and linking it to old forms of sequential storytelling from ancient civilisations, considering image making was the first form of written communication. So I will consider that over the winter period. I initially thought it a bit samey when I learned that another PhD student of my supervisor is using comics for their project but perhaps it’s actually a good thing, I can take full advantage of an expert then!

I am finishing up my Cambridge art this week so I will be back to making the next comic page soon!