During the Corona-Virus pandemic our landlord decided to sell our house. Unfortunately, we were in the way. Served with a notice to vacate, we had to look for somewhere new to live, to fight for our rights as tenants, while self-educating myself as an online teacher. As an outlet and a means to document this crazy time, I started making diary comics. 

I was fortunate to have these comics published by ABC Online. It was quite amazing to see my humble comics there! This comic got a lot of sympathy from people, many of whom had been through simliar experiences. It struck a chord, and is the closest I’ve come to making something that carries a quality of ‘shared truth’ in my autobio comic-making history.

You can view the comic here in mobile view, or below on desktop. It will help if you have a large screen and occasionally squint a bit.

Bonus extra: behind the scenes

Here’s a quick video overview of how I worked across digital and traditional methods in making the Corona Comic’s thumbnail image for the ABC online piece. It’s handy to be able to use digital image editing packages like Adobe Photoshop to maximise my creativity in traditional mediums including, as here, watercolour paints. Use all the tools at your disposal, its all good!

Tenancy support in your state or territory:

• ACT: Tenants’ Union ACT
• NSW: Tenants’ Union of NSW or NSW Fair Trading
• Queensland: Tenants Queensland or the Residential Tenancies Authority
• Victoria: Tenants’ Union of Victoria
• NT: Tenants’ Advice Service
• SA: Tenants’ Information and Advocacy Service
• Tasmania: Tenants’ Union of Tasmania
• WA: Tenancy WA