This narrative was my Final Major Project during my third year at UWE Illustration. I really loved working on this project which developed from the puppet I made at Aardman Academy's Sketch to Screen course.
Illustrations and concept by Abigail Smith
Accompanied poem by Caroline Johnson
See how I made 'Hear Me' here...
More about the puppet here....
If you would like to see the whole book, I'd love to share it.
Please contact me if you want some more sneaky peeks!

Flick through some sample pages ...
Everyone has inner thoughts, a creature that represents their mental health. As a child this is called your invisible friend, but as you get older, you begin to ignore it. As a child, you cry when you want to, scream when you’re annoyed etc., but you tend to push away when you get older and so refuse to see the creature. As the creature (mental health) gets more anxious, it grows in size and the flowers on his back wilt. This gives the human a sense of claustrophobia; a dark cloud looming behind and the mind is consumed with black. However, the happier, more comfortable the creature gets, it shrinks, the glow in the stomach brightens, and the flowers begin to bloom. This is less about achieving good mental health, but more acknowledging that you need to be aware of it and look after it.
Mental health controls everything you do, so by taking a break and looking out for your mental health, it can keep your mental health in check and you can keep going for longer.

