Punk Baby Navigates the World is a magazine and comic concept inspired by 80s toys and punk culture. Punk Baby is a coming of age comic, combining punk values and stereotypes with the ‘baby’ aesthetic. Made for the final project of my degree, Punk baby encapsulates my method of working, combining some of my major inspirations with a love of text, colour, and storytelling. Punk Baby allowed me to experiment with making structured comics with a set storyline, exploring character growth and short-form storytelling.
Punk Baby Gets Their First Car
Ultimately, Punk Baby Gets Their First Car is a comic about acceptance and community, told though a predominantly wordless narrative. Punk Baby Navigates the World depicts Punk Baby as both an adult and a child depending on the story, blending the two together, this story takes place in a playground, but also includes Punk Baby getting a group of friends to help her build her own car.
Punk Baby Gets A Makeover
Punk Baby Gets a Makeover is a comic about Punk Babies origin. I wanted to make a comic that included the pre-punk Punk Baby, her discovering punk music and DIY-ing her new look at home, allowing her to gain confidence and come into herself. I was working to reflect the physical and mental changes people go through as they find themselves, especially as people that are visibly alternative and queer.
Punk Baby Makes Some Art
I wanted to bring a double meaning to the punk baby comic titles, often with innocent meanings that could be applied to children but then bringing them to life with punk attitudes and activities. Punk Baby Makes Some Art shows Punk Baby drawing at home, and then going out in the world to collect inspiration (based on real locations around Bournemouth, where I was working at the time!), but being surrounded by colourful graffiti inspires her in a different way.
Character Design
The Punk Baby character design has a mix of inspirations, from Fruits Magazine to Bratz Babies, looking to combining soft body baby dolls with cartoon, y2k, and Punk aesthetics. Punk Baby started with a grungier look that developed into something more comic-friendly for my final major project, losing the scratchier texture but allowing for a more consistent stylisation. I also made the body shape easier to stylise, dress, and pose to make Punk Baby feel more fluid and dynamic in Punk Baby Navigates the World.
I wanted Punk Baby Navigates the World to also have a focus on fashion, to look at many ways of combining both ‘Punk’ and ‘Baby’ motifs. This also allowed me to explore colour combinations, hairstyles, and different subcultures of Punk. I kept the body type consistent between characters because the concept was inspired by doll lines, and therefore wated the it to look like the clothes would be interchangeable between characters.
