We're delighted to present a wonderful Festival Journal by Jean-Baptiste Pollien, a.k.a. Jibé, celebrating last year's weekend-long event in Kendal - before we head at a rapid pace into this year's event in October!

Jibé recounts his experience of visiting the Festival with other European guests, and it's quite clear that, like attendees, this talented comic creator enjoyed his time in the Lake District last year!

Jean-Baptiste Pollien, a.k.a. Jibé, is a French cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer from Lyon born in 1981. He is the author of comic series such as Sans Emploi (Marabout) and Basse Def (Omaké Books), and has participated in some collective works (Kokekokkô, On dit de Lyon, La psychanalyse des Super Héros...). He helped Lyon BD Festival to create the longest comic strip in the world by writing the story and storyboarding it (now official Guinness book World Record, 1.6 km of comic strip!).

He also created the independent label Quenelles Graphiques, in order to create and promote collective works (On dit de l’An 2000, Happy Hour...) and exhibitions.

Jean-Baptiste has worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer since 2010 and has been publishing his blog - www.chezjibe.com - since 2005, where he prepublishes most of his work.

Many thanks to Jibé for this wonderful account of last year's Festival, which you can download below as a PDF.

Tickets for this year's Lakes International Comic Art Festival will be on sale soon!