Pablo and Splash all began at the start of the first lockdown in March 2020. I’d been wanting to make my own diary webcomic for some time but I didn’t know where to start or what form it would take. Suddenly, the lockdown provided the perfect framework: I would chronicle what life was like in our household as we navigated the pandemic along with everyone else on the planet at that time.

I was sitting on the sofa depicted in the comic when, on a whim, I decided my husband and I would appear as penguins. Apart from being easy to draw, penguins are cute, funny and lovable. I am glad that I chose penguins rather than warthogs or snails, as I don’t think things would have panned out quite as they did.

I called the webcomic Isolation Penguin and the complete series is available to view on Instagram. Look for the hashtags #IsolationPenguin and #PenguinChronicles

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As the pandemic ended and the comics began to centre around more general themes, I was left feeling that there was something in those penguins that was worth bringing further. I took the two penguin characters - sadly the tortoise who I had added in to represent our dog didn’t make the cut - and put a lot of work into developing them into a lovable odd couple who are polar opposites but best friends for life. I even put them through various personality tests e.g. Myers Briggs until I felt I had a believable duo who I knew inside out.

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I wanted to add a mad scientist as an extra character but also to explain the penguins’ ability to time travel. Mad scientists are a comic book trope, but I decided to make her female and to give her an Irish name with a twist. Professor O’Brain was born.

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Before long, the webcomic Isolation Penguin had developed into a time travel adventure series of graphic novels for children aged 6+. It was rejected at first by a publisher, but when my agent Sallyanne Sweeney sent it out on submission to 12 publishers a few months later, within a week or two we had 7 offers.

I had envisaged drawing all these books in one colour like the webcomic, hence the blue images above. But my chosen publisher Bloomsbury were very keen on full colour for these books. They’ve been absolutely wonderful to collaborate with. They believed in the project from the beginning and put everything into making the series a success in an insanely competitive market. I am so grateful for what has been a wild ride so far. The first book in the series is shortlisted for a British Book Award (2025) and a lot of that is down to their very hard work.

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For students or illustrators starting out, I can’t emphasise this enough: make your own side projects, whatever they may be! Good opportunities usually arise when you put something out there that has come from the heart.

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