Transcription of interview conducted by Skype on 18 November 2014. Parts of this interview were used in Farthing, A. & Priego, E., (2016). ÔGraphic MedicineÕ as a Mental Health Information Resource: Insights from Comics Producers. The Comics Grid. 6(0), p.3. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/cg.74


JESSICA LEACH, ILLUSTRATOR OF EPISODES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

CAN DESCRIBE YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW YOU BECAME INVOLVED IN EPISODES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA?
I did an undergraduate degree in biomedical science, and I specialised in genetics and neuroscience. I wrote my dissertation about schizophrenia, but it was quite specifically about schizophrenia susceptibility and a gene called G72. I didn't do any lab work, it was just a kind of library project. It's a bit removed and abstract to just look at the science on its own. That was why I was attracted to making a comic book. A big reason I worked on the book was because of knowing people who suffer from schizophrenia and other mental illness and trying to understand them from a non-scientific viewpoint. I suppose I wanted to find a balance between the medical side Ð finding drugs that help Ð and listening to a person and accepting their personality and worldview as 'real' to them. I wanted to bring all the different kind of elements together, what it actually felt like, and have a bit of a social context, a bit of philosophy, as well as the kind of science and biology of it. 

DID YOU CONTACT JEN ROBINSON ABOUT HER BLOG?
I approached her directly. I did a Google search for Ôschizophrenia blogÕ and then I emailed quite a few people. Jen was the only one that got back to me who was interested in doing it. She does a lot of advocacy type of study, and she works with the National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI] in the USA, so I think she was probably in a good place to tell her story. ÊShe's learned how to openly deal with her illness quite well, so I think she's probably in quite a good position in those terms. And I guess there's a kind of closure and catharsis if you tell your story. I think thatÕs basically her main motivation for it, and kind of helping with her advocacy work.

DID YOU HAVE AN AUDIENCE IN MIND FOR THE BOOK?
To be honest, I didn't really think it would be an educational type thing. I guess, who I had in mind was maybe more like friends and family of sufferers, and someone who's been diagnosed with a psychotic episode or something like that. TheyÕre more like the audience I had in mind, rather than professionals. After studying biomedical science, then I did a masters in communication design, so the book was a part of that. The course was quite open and you were supposed to experiment quite a lot, but I actually didn't experiment that much with Episodes, because I think I just went and did it. As part of making it, I took photos at different places and traced them or copied them, then I merged them with drawings that I'd done from my head. And I had a light box, so that kind of made things easier.

DID JEN GIVE MUCH FEEDBACK ON THE IMAGES OR WAS THAT COMPLETELY DOWN TO YOU?
I checked everything with her and there were a few tweaks here and there. She didn't really make a lot of comments on the images but I made sure she was happy with them.

MIND, THE MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY, IS MENTIONED ON THE BACK COVER. WAS IT INVOLVED?
Well, I'd made this thing and I emailed Mind about it because I thought that might be useful for them, and it might help market it. They emailed back saying we don't really have the capacity to deal with this kind of thing. But they told me about Chipmunka, and so then I sent them an email asking if theyÕd be interested in it. Mind and NAMI are mentioned on the back of it because I thought if the book is seen by sufferers, then it puts them in touch with professionals if they need it.

WHEN ILLUSTRATING JENÕS EPISODES, DID YOU RELY ON HER WORDS OR DID YOU BRING SOMETHING ELSE TO IT?
She told me her story, and I thought it was interesting and would hold peopleÕs attention. So I started with that, and then IÕd do the sociology of it later. I wanted to make it quite expressive and I thought it would be nice to do cartoons because you can add surreal touches to help bring her hallucinations to life, and maybe make that a bit more accessible for someone who's not experienced it. I didn't really think about it at the time but, looking back on it now, I like the way it looks a bit DIY, and the lettering is handwritten, not typed out, and a bit kind of grainy.

IS THAT DIY LOOK JUST A PREFERENCE OF YOUR PERSONAL AESTHETICS, OR DOES IT LEND ANYTHING TO THE BOOK?
Maybe it's a personal thing, but also I like the idea that normal people can tell their story, and it didn't need to go through a professional publisher and professional designer. And if you have a story to tell, you can just write it on a bit of paper and put it in a photocopier, I guess I just kind of liked that idea. 
There's a whole kind of history of DIY zines and marginalised groups telling their story through that kind of medium Ð Riot Grrrl fanzines are an example of that.

DO YOU THINK YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS ADD OR REVEAL SOMETHING THAT ISNÕT APPARENT IN JENÕS TEXT?
They do make it a bit easier to relate to, or easier to read. It kind of breaks up the text, and that makes it a bit easier. And as I said, surreal touches like the scene where she thought a train station was like a Star Trek set. I guess it was a bit easier to do that with drawings Ð you can make that a bit more immediate.

IS THE PAGE WHERE JEN SAID SHE HAD A MILLION THOUGHTS GOING THROUGH HER MIND ALSO AN EXAMPLE OF THAT?
I actually re-did that page, because I remember thinking it was an important part of the story, that's a sort of climax. I realised I would need to make that a big impactful image. I think for the first version, I just drew Jen like lying on the bed and sort of looking a bit exasperated, and it was just quite a small picture. But then I thought, ÔNo I've got to make that a big statement, so I've got to take up the whole page for thatÕ. ÊOne of my tutors said it would be better if I could stick to having pages of drawing, and then one of writing. ÊBut I broke up the pages to make sure the drawings are more in touch with the rhythm of the story.

DO YOU KNOW IF ITÕS BEEN USED BY ANY SUPPORT GROUPS, ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS OR MENTAL HEALTH ORGANISATIONS AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL?
I don't really. I sent copies to a few universities and stuff, but I haven't really heard back. But on the Amazon page, there's a couple of reviews, and one of them is a doctor, so I guess he's studied, but I don't know if he's used it with any of his colleagues or anything like that. 

HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING ELSE LIKE THIS?
I haven't really done any other comics, but I would like to do another one, maybe a web comic as itÕs easier to distribute. IÕd like to do something about transgender issues, because I think that's quite a big topic. Also, I was thinking about maybe something to do with housing. 

DO YOU READ COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS?
I don't read a huge amount of them. ÊBut the main inspiration for Episodes of Schizophrenia was Art SpiegelmanÕs Maus, and then Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Epileptic by David B. I think they're the three kind of main influences.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THINGS WORK WITH THE PUBLISHER CHIPMUNKA?
It's a little bit tricky communicating with them, to be honest. It's basically a charity and they're giving up their time for free. But they published it and they got funding from the Arts Council to do that. And I was really excited to be able to say it's been published. They have a print-on-demand model, so you can order it on their website or order it on Amazon, and then they send it off to the printers.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED GOING TO COMICS CONVENTIONS OR ZINE FAIRS?
I went to one zine fair, called DIY Cultures, at the Rich Mix Cinema in Bethnal Green, London. There was a zine workshop, and loads of people with things to sell. But I haven't taken it to any other fairs or anything.

ENDS