The joys of people watching and weirdness

'The Medium Man' was a self-initiated series of single-page graphic novel stories I created to offset Superhero overload and to express a love of the banality of average modern life.

It ticked many boxes for me – drawing, directing (I took great pleasure in plotting each frame), writing, humour, observation, design, and perhaps best of all, mischief.

I lived in London at the time, and enjoyed people-watching on the underground, and in the streets. Those middle-aged men on the tubes, sunken into their suits, bashing away at 'Candy Crush', oblivious of my smirk. With these chaps, I got to marvel at urban wildlife without the sadness that comes with animals in captivity.

Then just conversation. Small talk and canceled plans because someone was knackered.

Sir John Hegarty spoke to me about the importance of observation, of caution when it comes to dominant forms of media and their negative impact on the creative brain. And he is right.

I recently read in Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross that cognitive neuroscientists estimate we are only consciously aware of 5% of our mental activity at any given time. So without needing to know the details of what's going on with the other 95%, shouldn't that highlight the importance of letting the brain do something other than stare at a screen, or imbibe constant audio?

Anyway, back to the banality. I also took great joy because this project brought new magic to even the most mundane experiences, especially on those dark, miserable winter nights, when it's all too easy to look around and feel gloomy. I giggled away as I banked another slice of uncontrivable reality, reality so aggressive it flips the situation; I found myself working hard to be as 'medium' as I could; a warped version of method acting.

A small community grew from this: other medium men and women began using this tool to cope with new parenthood, shit jobs, and pre-determined weekends at IKEA. I'd get covert photos from a friend in a friend or relative's bathroom wanting me to see the framed editions of LIVE LAUGH LOVE, and people would go out of their way to buy me agonisingly ubiquitous greetings cards and leave the price sticker on. So, accidentally, this project brought about kinship and tribes, an essential requirement for humans and a great creative enabler.

Creativity is an unrivaled tool with which to work through our insurmountable, our gripes, and our bloody boring. You don't know how loud the people you assume are winning might be screaming inside. Or perhaps they're just in need of a chuckle and a reminder they're not alone. Creativity brings that too.

I paused the series at 10. Maybe I'll return to it one day, but it did land me a The Association of Illustrators World Illustration Award shortlisting and a beautiful project creating a graphic novel for The Guardian about the homeless crisis in Manchester. You never can tell.

Perhaps I'll turn them into a limited edition zine, but I think it would be far more 'medium' to go on about it for years to come without ever doing anything with it. How far do you go with the realism?

You can see the whole 'Medium Man' series here.

See you next time. Ben x

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