In 2023, I published a book called JAMIE – a middle-grade story about a confident and cheerful non-binary kid, who finds out their secondary school choices are split; they have to choose between a school for boys and a school for girls. In 2023, the landscape of NHS and Private care for young transgender people and children was very different. When I published JAMIE, the recent EHRC guidance on who can and cannot use which toilet was simply a frightening what if.

IGLA Europe’s Rainbow Map, which ranks countries in Europe based on their legal and practical policies for queer people, showed the UK had plummeted down to 22^nd place in 2025. This was a drop from 17^th place in 2023. Back in 2015, the UK was ranked 1^st in the whole of Europe.

I am thirty-eight years old, and it is very tempting to be nostalgic for those days of being the best in Europe, but the reality of today’s fear and very real possibilities of discrimination, harm and trauma outweigh any sort of rose-tinted look at the past. I grew up under the shadow of Section 28, which outlawed queer books in schools or libraries, forbade teachers from supporting their queer students, and put many people into a state of fear that lasted from 1998 to 2003 – my entire school career. And it feels to me that we are in danger of heading straight back to those days again.

KICKFLIP is my debut young adult book, and my first graphic novel, illustrated with great energy and enthusiasm by Logan Hanning. It tells the story of Elliot Powell, a fifteen-year-old kid who is seen as a girl in school and a boy at the skate park, but neither of those labels actually fit them properly. It’s a story of first crushes, school bullies, best mates and supportive family, and is almost a sibling book to JAMIE. But unlike that younger protagonist, Elliot does not have a label for themselves that they are happy with. They are attempting to lead a triple life, with only their hugely loving mum knowing anything close to the truth. Elliot’s struggles are much closer to my own; existing in a state where other people seem to know you better than you know yourself, until one day the façade finally cracks. For Elliot, this is a celebratory moment, wrapped in the love and support of their friends and family. For many trans young people in Britain today, such a revelation might well be tinged with fear.

Writing books that reflect my own experience growing up, and my view of the world at large, is something I have always done, and will always continue to do. It is vital that all young people are able to see themselves in stories, to know that happiness and support is possible and within reach. To give up on these stories is to give up on so many young readers who might only see a main character like themselves once in their childhood.

The first volume of KICKFLIP is just the beginning for Elliot – no one ever has to come out just the one time. But being their author, I wanted to make sure they always had characters around them who had their back. As I will always have the backs of young readers who badly need to discover a story like Elliot’s.

Kick Flip is the first graphic novel I’ve completed, and it was incredibly challenging, rewarding (and terrifying)! I’ve been making comics since I was a kid on stapled notebook paper, but was another task altogether to create 200 plus pages of published artwork that brought LD’s words to life – and gave Elliot a world for self-discovery.

I drew inspiration from many artists/art movements: 1990’s punk collage, animation (especially Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, Adventure Time and Steven Universe), manga, and early skateboarding documentaries. Skateboarding culture has a history of rebellion, grittiness and independence – similar to the history of comics. I felt like drawing characters by hand, using different inking techniques and traditional comics screentones would help to lend authenticity to that world. When I wasn’t sure what to draw in a panel, I imagined the characters next to me, reacting to the dialogue in real time.

After I received LD’s script – which contained dialogue and descriptions of character actions/emotions – I split the script into scenes. I highlighted the character’s actions and the important locations I needed to illustrate. For image references, I watched videos of skateboarders like Tony Hawk performing tricks in slow motion, skateboarding instructional videos, documentaries, and played the Skate 3 video game (badly). Whenever I saw skateboarders out in the real world I drew them in my sketchbooks!  While I researched, I began my character turnarounds (drawing the character from the front, side, and back) which gave me a reference for how they would be drawn at different angles throughout the book. LD provided character descriptions, and I used these to decide on final designs. Many characters are inspired by people I’ve sketched in public, friends and family.

The rough stage involved a digital sketch for each page where panels, bubbles and characters were placed for reference. When the Kick Flip team and LD reviewed the roughs, they could make notes on pacing, clarity, and areas where words overwhelmed images. When roughs were approved I started on final artwork. Before I started inking, I printed out all my rough sketches on Bristol board. Using thick, smooth Bristol paper meant the ink flowed easily across the paper and I could really dig in with my pens to create different effects. I used thinner pens for the background/detail drawings and thicker pens for characters closer to the reader. When my inks were ready, I scanned them into Procreate and started digitally colouring with watercolor, ink and screentone brushes. The colouring was inspired by the emotional highs and lows Elliot experienced throughout the book – but I also used logical light sources and referred to LD’s script for notes on mood or atmosphere.

Working on Kick Flip and making comics constantly has been the most enjoyable time of
my life – I hope everyone loves reading LD’s story as much as I loved drawing it. Here’s to many
more comics!!

~

Many thanks to L.D and Logan for sharing this insight into the creation of Kickflip, and showing us inside!  You can read more about the title and pre-order it below.