About

b. 1963, I am a UK based anthropologist-turned-illustrator, comics artist and comics scholar and author of award winning graphic memoir, Billy, Me & You (2011 Myriad Editions) based on the experience of bereavement following the death of my 2-year-old son. I illustrate to commission, please email me if you have a project in mind.

I  have extensive experience of planning, facilitating and delivering comics workshops and events in a variety of contexts as well as mentoring in the context of drawing or academia. I have lectured in British art schools and universities since 2014.  I am currently offering online mentoring offering two strands of support: With your practical drawing projects and/or with your academic work. I also offer  consultancy to assist you with the development of individual projects. https://nicolastreeten.wordpress.com/graphic-novel-online-mentoring-programme/

Since 2017 I have worked as artist facilitator on the British Council Creating Heroines project, working with women artists from the UK and from five South Asian countries. 2021 saw the third iteration of this project, expanding to include 24 women artists from 6 South Asian countries. From 2018-2019 I was in receipt of an Arts Council England International Development Fund Award to develop “Expectations” a collaborative project, with Kokaachi in Kerala, India and Indian illustrator Priya Kuriyan.

I co-founded and direct the women-led, welcoming all international forum LDComics  and in 2018 we launched the first women-only prize for graphic novels in progress at our inaugural festival with support from Arts Council England. 2020 has seen the third iteration of our festival online in response to COVID_19. Further strands of activity are continually being introduced and developed. A second award from Arts Council England supports the 2019- 2020 activity.

My PhD from the University of Sussex on A Cultural History of Feminist Cartoons and Comics in Britain from 1970 to 2010  informed the The Inking Woman  250 years of women cartoons in Britain (2018 Myriad Editions) which I co-edited and which is aimed at a general reader. My most recent book includes a more theoretical approach  UK Feminist Cartoons and Comics: A Critical Survey (2020 Palgrave Macmillan). Both publications received Broken Frontier “Best book about comics” awards.

Since 2014 I have worked as a lecturer in Critical Theory and History on the Animation and Illustration BA Honours degree courses  at Kingston University and London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. From September 2021 I will be working at Regents College London. In addition I regularly deliver practical comics workshops to Medical Humanities BA students at Imperial College London and to design students at  Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. I speak publicly and deliver comics workshops – recently synchronously to a variety of different audiences on a regular basis Visit my events page to see forthcoming events.

I live with artist spouse John Plowman and artist daughter Sally Plowman

Get in touch! nicolastreeten[at]yahoo[dot]com