Zee And Josh’s Memory Book

A love story for the ages.

Zee was one of the first people to reach out to me after Chiby and Naomi’s comic book went viral. She wanted a comic book recounting some of her best memories with her partner, Josh, and what those memories mean to her.

After days of going through her story, we agreed on five core memories and the title of the comic book. She wanted the comics done with their nicknames: Zikanni and Omeizisan (which I found very cute).

One-on-one with Zee.

I got to work immediately — writing the script, finding the right references for the artist and deciding the best artist for the job.

For this comic book, I reached out to Stanley, a background artist I used to work with, and together, we mulled over the concept art, storyboard, and preferred art style — the client wanted an anime/manga feel to the comic.

Character design by Stanley.

As the work progressed, Stanley shared updates, but there was a page that challenged us. It’s the one with the pink elephant.

First concept for the ‘Pink Elephant’.

Zee had described the tension around her first kiss with Josh as having a pink elephant in the room. It was such a vivid way to describe the moment that it would have been a shame not to include it in the comic.

Second concept for the ‘Pink Elephant’.

The first couple iterations had the elephant in an awkward position in relation to the other elements on the page. When I couldn’t decide where the elephant should stay, I thought of scraping it out completely, but I also wanted the elephant there as an observer in this story, watching the love unfold.

After a couple corrections, Stanley came through with a concept we felt worked best and now we have Zikanni and Omeizisan’s memory book.

Cover Page illustrated by Stanley Nweke.

If you enjoyed this and would love to make a comic story for your events, anniversaries, birthdays, e.t.c, send a DM on Instagram @e.s.Doodles.