SOCIALLY AWKWARD MISFIT - LEAVE ME ALONE AS I'M READING

What's the difference between someone with social anxiety and someone who's scared of their own shadow? Well, the person who's scared of their own shadow, doesn't mind sunbathing! Want to know more? Then please check out the following conversation I had with my mate Ross, Ross Hendrick, who's a master at illustrating the ups and downs of social anxiety.


Ross Hendrick on Amazon

1) What are your own origins, Ross?   I've been drawing for as long as I can remember and have always wanted to be a cartoonist. So after a lot of hard work and a fair bit of rejection, I finally started to get some of my stuff published, most notably, in comics like 'The Beano' and 'Viz', which eventually led me to publish my very own range of graphic novels.

2) What inspired you to create, ‘Socially Awkward Misfit’?   Me, I inspired myself to create 'Socially Awkward Misfit', because I loosely based the book on my own life experiences. In many ways, it comes from me being an introvert with social anxiety, although exaggerated for the sake of humor.

3) In your own words, how would you describe this story?   My latest story, 'Anxiety', is unsurprisingly about anxiety. Or in other words, it's a story about a funny little man named Sam (a.k.a. Socially Awkward Misfit) who finds himself in some excruciatingly awkward situations due to his social anxiety and irrational thoughts.

4) What song would you say best represents 'SAM' and why?   I would like to go with the Pulp classic, 'Mis-Shapes', because the first line in this song seems very appropriate for my graphic novel, 'Misshapes, mistakes, misfits...', and I've always liked listening to it.

5) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   I would like to select Ricky Gervais's old friend, Karl Pilkington, because he just cracks me up and I'm sure he wouldn't oversell my work. I also like to think that his downbeat style of humor and blunt honesty would suit it to a tee.

6) What have you learned about yourself through this endeavor?   I wish I could say I learned something about myself, but no, no I can't. Sorry.

7) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   Well, I guess it's just making sure that I draw something each day, or at the very least, most days, as I always feel the need to keep creating (which has helped me improve as an artist).

8) If ‘SAM’ had a motto, what would it be?   'It's ok to be quiet'.

And on that note, I'd like to thank Ross for telling us about his graphic novel, 'Socially Awkward Misfit', before encouraging you to check out his Website, Facebook, YouTube, Kickstarter, Instagram, and Twitter pages.