Talk about my own experience with ADHD but be quick about it. Namely like what you know it is and what you understand from your own POV
Literally nothing much is known about the artist’s story outside of her ADHD. Visual development artist but unable to find what else she has worked on, however she is represented by Jennifer Azantian, literary agent at Azantian Literary Agency.
Inspired by Nagata Kabi’s “My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness”
“Blown away by the fact that you could write about your experiences and that it didn’t necessarily have to be fictional,”
From an interview with Matt O’Keefe is where I got most of this background about her since she doesn’t share much outside of her ADHD.
ADHD Alien first comic! This, going to therapy, and learning to voice experiences enable her to write.
Talks about how she got diagnosed in 2018. About to lose first job as an artist for a feature film which was dream job. Confronted by people denying existence of ADHD. Got so mad that she made comics to voice her emotions. Relatable honestly.
Talks about how the comics have helped manage her ADHD but she still struggles more than people assume. it is very nice to hear that about an accomplished comic creator talks about how despite how popular and known her comic is, she still struggles.
Hesitated to share comics with anyone she knew personally. Didn’t want to let anyone know how much she struggled. Usually doesn’t open up. Tries not to think about the people who read her comics while she makes them. Makes it more genuine.
Realized could no longer keep up with comics and her day job and made the decision to become a full time comic creator for her ADHD alien comics. Freelance was low but reliable. Rough at first but people on Patreon made it possible and she still is making her ADHD Comics to this day in the process of making it a graphic novel.
So far the only comics she makes are focused on her experience with ADHD, but in the interview with O’Keefe, she says she has something in mind although not much else is mentioned. After all, to her, ADHD Alien is still her big focus since it’s still being worked on for a graphic novel so the other idea is still in its infant shoes, as she stated.
There are several aspects that most people don’t know about ADHD, and I will admit that seeing her comics and seeing she has had similar things going on that are from her ADHD made me realize oh hey me too.
Her art style is cute and it’s enjoyable to see the progression of her comics and how a person can literally just start to make comics even if they had no prior experience. You learn as you go and seeing her newer comics compared to older ones is amazing to see the progress.
It’s amazing how many different comics she has about the matter and how personal it is to not only her, but also to other people with ADHD. Sometimes all it takes is seeing someone else who is diagnosed with something, who also has similar traits to you to go and ask yourself, “Huh I do that. Could I also be like that?”
Sometimes I will be astounded by some of the experiences she mentions and how both informative and simplistic she puts it. But that makes sense- she explains it in a way that is easily digestible to people like her. Sometimes treading can be hard and the medium of comics makes it much easier to understand.
If I recall this is one of her earliest comics. Her collection of comics is pretty large but in a recent tweet she compared a screenshot from this comic to a newer comic to show her improvement.
She is actually where I learned more valuable information about the specific aspects that can be found in ADHD like here in this comic, she talks about Executive Dysfunction which is basically like when you can’t start important tasks because the reward is not as interesting as per say something else like video games or drawing for fun, which is very rewarding to your adhd. Sometimes people with ADHD procrastinate because of this- they rely on the urgency of finishing for a deadline than being able to Just Do it.
She’s gone on saying on her Twitter that these are just her experiences. I think this comic is nice because I have had people try to tell me, “No you’re just lazy. Just do the thing you need to,” and I like that she mentions the therapist And the “mean bully you”. I lucked out with my diagnosis as my therapist also has ADHD so no annoying check list therapist.
The comic here feels like a genuine look into my own life with my family at times. She illustrates perfectly this exact situation to a T. She has perfect terms to use for both people with ADHD ato relate to and also for people who don’t have ADHD to grasp and understand from an outside POV.
Speaking of outside POV, it’s nice that she illustrates the non-ADHD with ADHD in things like this. Sometimes yes non-ADHD have similar traits but they are not a constant in a person’s life. So when a non-ADHD says “oh well sometimes I do that too,” yeah sometimes. Imagine if that was all the time, and I’m glad she does these sort of compare and contrast comics as well!
The swing of emotions that can be caused by ADHD is pretty accurate here. I’ve done similar things. Just the day before I had such a swing of emotions and overthinking like this over something “silly” to the non-adhd person.
In the end, I think it’s inspiring and amazing that there is someone like me who is getting by making comics despite her disorder makes me feel good. It makes me hopeful. And I can’t wait for her to keep making more comics and what this new concept for a non biographical comic would be like!