When Ottawan Von Allan decided to create the art for his graphic novel, he couldn’t draw. “I literally sat down, when I was 24, with Betty EdwardsDrawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and I started to teach myself,” says Allan. Eleven years later, the former independent bookstore manager is now selling his self-published graphic novel, the road to god knows—-drawn and written by his own hand.
the road is the story of teenage Marie, who’s learning to live with her mother’s schizophrenia while also dealing with her family’s poverty. The graphic novel is largely autobiographical, as Allan’s mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was just a boy. Allan noticed a lack of literature on the subject, and decided to use the opportunity for the creation of his first graphic novel.
“I knew when it started out that it had to be something personal to me because I didn’t want the enthusiasm to wane on it after a while. Doing fiction just opened up doorways to tell a story that I think resonates better than a purely autobiographical story would,” he says. Copies of the road to god knows are available at Strange Adventures (5262 Sackville Street) or by visiting vonallan.com.