First guests, Festival artwork by Mohamed Salah revealed for Lakes International Comic Art 2023

We're delighted to reveal our first guests for our annual gathering this autumn (Friday 29th September – Sunday 1st October) – and this year’s haunting Festival art by Egyptian comic creator, Mohamed Salah.

The first announced guests for this year’s Festival, taking place in Bowness-on-Windermere from Friday 29th September – Sunday 1st October will be Dave McKean, award-winning Czech artist Lucie Lomová, and “Awkward Yeti” creator Nick Sulek, and, of course, Mohamed Salah.

Mohamed Salah is a comic book artist and a visual narrator with a knack for social commentary and science fiction. He’s moved across a multitude of visual communication disciplines since 2002; starting out with comic strips and visual arts, then finding his way to other areas such as animation, editorial cartoons, illustration and advertising.

“I thought of the Festival’s poster as a celebration of stories,” he says of his art. “Stories, I believe, are the closest thing we have to a collective memory, a bridge connecting our past and future.

“I wanted to capture the ‘sense of wonder’ that makes them just that.

“And to have a good looking lake, of course!”

This first guest announcement follows on the heels of the Festival’s announcement for its Lakeview Comics Marketplace lineup, which includes a bigger, wider range of comic creators, publishers and other creatives than at any previous Festival.

Alongside creators such as Chris Askham, Yomi Ayeni, Tim Bird, Jenika Ioffreda, Drew Marr, Nigel Parkinson, Mollie Ray, Cam Smith, Rachael Smith, Lucy Sullivan, and Andrew Wildman, publishers including B7 Comics, Centrala, Knockabout Comics and SelfMadeHero will also be at this year’s three-day event.

“We’ve got a host of surprises lined up for this year’s Festival,” teases the event Director, Julie Tait. “Not just a great, diverse, world-spanning comic creator lineup, but exhibitions, kids stuff to stir imaginations, and much more.

“We’re focusing more on fewer locations across the town, this year, too,” she adds, “building on last year’s experience, our first year in a new location.

“As for our opening night… well, like last year, expect it to be spectacular!”

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First Festival Guests

Lucie Lomová

Lucie Lomová is an award-winning Czech comics artist and illustrator, whose books have been translated into French, German, and Polish. Her latest graphic novel, Každý den je nový (“Every Day Is New”) won the 2022 Muriel Award for the best Czech graphic novel. The English translation of her graphic novel Divoši (“Savages”) is due out from Centrala Publishing in spring 2023.

The book, constructed around the memoirs of the Czech adventurer Alberto Vojtěch Frič, tells a story based on real events about how the famous explorer brought back a Chamacoco Indian named Cherwuish from his travels around South America to Prague in 1908.

• Lucie Lomová is online at lucielomova.blogspot.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Dave McKean

Dave McKean is an illustrator, photographer, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician.

He is also one of the UK most acclaimed comic artists. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture. McKean’s projects include illustrating comics by authors such as Neil Gaiman (Violent Cases, The Sandman series, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch) and Grant Morrison (Batman – Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth).

He has directed three feature films and created innovative performances for the stage incorporating graphic art, music and spoken word, including Black Dog – The Dreams of Paul Nash, commissioned to commemorate the 100th centenary of World War One and performed on the Somme, in Kendal and at Tate Britain. His latest comic, Raptor, was published in 2021.

• Dave McKean is online at davemckean.com

Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah Ismail, who created this year’s Festival art, was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1983. He’s a comic book artist and a visual narrator with a knack for social commentary and science fiction, who has moved across a multitude of visual communication disciplines since 2002. He started out with comic strips and visual arts, then found his way to other areas such as animation, editorial cartoons, illustration and advertising.

His work is published in magazines such as Samir, Bassem, and Toktok, and in newspapers such as Al-Masry Alyoum and Al-Shorouk.

He has won the Mahmoud Kahil award, and the Cairocomix festival grand prix. He has also taken part in exhibitions, workshops, and art residencies in Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Denmark, France, and Switzerland.

• Follow Mohamed Salah Ismail on Instagram: @_abusalah_

Nick Sulek

The Awkward Yeti and all of its work are authored and illustrated by cartoonist Nick Seluk. It was his dream since he was a kid to be funny, and someday he hopes to be. His New York Times bestselling series, Heart and Brain, has brought popularity to the Awkward Yeti on social media, and he now copes with the pressure of trying to entertain millions of fans online.

In 2018, his first children’s book was published by Scholastic, titled The Sun is Kind of a Big Deal, the first in a three-book series. You can find them in bookstores and Scholastic fairs in schools.

Nick lives in Michigan, which has super big lakes surrounding it. He enjoys thinking about running, not actually running, and mostly doing nothing.

• The Awkward Yeti: theawkwardyeti.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr

Lakeview Comics Marketplace Exhibitors 2023

The Festival has over 90 comic creators, publishers and illustrators in our Lakeview Comics Marketplace this year.

Creators include: Chris Askham, Yomi Ayeni, Sayra Begum, Clark Bint, Tim Bird, Lewis Campbell, Jon Davis, Pete Doree, Emma Evans, Ed Firth, Simon Furman, Steven Fraser, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, Jessika Green, Lyndsey Green, Katie Handley, Isabel Hatherall, Jack Harvey, Luke Hyde, Jenika Ioffreda, Owen Michael Johnson, Roger Langridge, Joe Latham, Russell Mark Olson, Shaun Martland, Drew Marr, Chris Mole, Alex Moore, Beatrice Mossman, Nigel Parkinson, Markus Pattern, Mollie Ray, Reabault, Emma Reynolds, Schnumn, Paul Shinn, Martin Simpson, Matt Simmons, Zara Slattery, Cam Smith, Matt Smith, Rachael Smith, Lucy Sullivan, Kev F Sutherland, David Taylor, Tom Ward, Kevin Wells, Lyndon White, Kate-Mia White, Steve White, Dan Whitehead, Andrew Wildman, Manon Wright & Tal Brosh

Independent Publishers, and other Exhibitors include: 1826, 77 Publishing, After the Robot Apocalypse, Art-Bubble, B7 Comics, The Cartoon Museum, Catfood Comics, Centrala, CoCo Comics, Colossive Press, Comics Youth CIC, Conundrum Press, Doctor Geof, Drawn Strip, Fanfare UK, First Graphic Novel Competition, Foxhat, Galaxia Prince, I&M Illustration, Indie Novella, Iqbal A. Comics, Kaarinart, Kannter Art, Knockabout Comics, LDComics, Meraki Comics, MoonSquid INK, Nevercity Creations, Nona Gallery, Parable Games, Peak Hare Collective, The Pig Patch, Power Comics Studios, RAWHEAD, Scratch Comics, Sector 13 Comics, SelfMadeHero and Sloth Comics

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