CREATORS IN CONVERSATION
Panel 2: Drawing Local
Sat 13 September 2025, 11:30amโ12:30pm
Studio 01, Adelaide City Library, Level 3 Rundle Place,
77โ91 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia
Cost: FREEย (no booking required, butย RSVPing on Facebookย will help us know how many people to expect)
Campbell Whyte (WA), Molly Hunt (WA), and Queenie Chan (NSW), with Owen Heitmann (SA) (chair)
How do comics-makers and graphic novelists represent Australia on the page? Do they draw from photos or memories? And does a local setting help or hinder in connecting with an international audience? Get ready to be inspired by three talented creators whoโve brought magical girls to Perth, an alien invasion to the Kimberley, and manga readers to a haunted boarding school in the NSW bush. Weโll discuss visual cliches to avoid, how to capture a sunburnt country in black and white, and whether an authentic sense of place is pivotal or peripheral to their stories.ย
This session will feature sign interpretation in Auslan, provided by Deaf Connect.
BIOGRAPHIES
Campbell Whyte
Campbell Whyte (he/him) is a comics maker and teacher born and based in Perth, where his major works take place. His graphic novel series Home Time won numerous international awards, was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Awards, and was described by Shuan Tan as being โBeautifully realised, funny, smart, weird … also just plain brilliant.โ His deliriously epic forthcoming follow-up, the vibrantly colourful Luna Express, is best described as โAustralian Sailor Moon meets Late Capitalismโ. His focus is on creating appealing and accessible works that explore deeply personal and place-based stories.
Campbell is also the co-founder and co-director of the Milktooth School of Art and Stories with his wife and fellow comics-maker Elizabeth Marruffo. Through Milktooth, Campbell provides opportunities for young people to develop their comics-making skills and publish their works, with over 400 students attending his courses every year and 80 new comics published annually. In addition, Campbell is a co-founder and the Chairperson of the Perth Comic Arts Festival, a free, creator-focused event that seeks to make comics literature accessible for all ages. He has helped grow and steer the organisation to become one of Australia’s most significant comics events.
Molly Hunt
Molly Hunt (she/her) is a natural storyteller who has switched between roles as a writer, animator, journalist, radio presenter, and illustrator. Her first comic book publication credit was as co-writer of Dreamwalker, the first female Aboriginal superhero comic, alongside Indigiverse creator Scott Wilson. Dreamwalker #1 (illustrated by Chris Wood, published by Gestalt Comics) was shortlisted for Young Adult Book of the Year at the 2025 Western Australian Premierโs Book Awards. Molly is also currently developing the series Spinifex Valley โ about Aboriginal cowgirls in the East Kimberly resisting white settlers while fighting off aliens โ as the first taste of her own Alchemy comic universe.
As a proud Balanggarra and Yolngu woman, Molly has strong ties to Wyndham, the Kimberley, and Elcho Island, Arnhem Land. With her trademark bold and colourful graphic style, she has illustrated This Book Thinks Ya Deadly (written by Corey Tutt, published by Hardie Grant), collaborated on a clothing edit with First Nations apparel company and social enterprise House of Darwin, and helped create countless murals in remote communities. In addition, Molly has worked as a journalist for such mainstream media outlets as the ABC, Channel 10, Vogue, and Junkee Media. She is drawn to any medium through which she can share stories, inform, and educate. She currently lives in Kununurra, where she was born.
Queenie Chan
Queenie Chan (she/her) is a Sydney-based manga-style comic book writer-artist. She was born in Hong Kong, and migrated to Australia when she was six years old. After cutting her teeth on webcomics, her first published work was The Dreaming, a three-volume supernatural mystery-thriller series that she began drawing in 2004. Originally released by LA-based manga publisher Tokyopop, The Dreaming has since been translated into multiple languages, and in 2024 was reissued in a new, revised edition through Australian publisher IPI Comics. The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Graphic Novel group included the revised editions on its 2024 ALIA Graphic Notables List in the YA category.
Queenieโs further solo work includes the fairy-tale-inspired fantasy series Fabled Kingdom and a series of biographical comics about famous historical queens, called Women Who Were Kings. She has also collaborated on three graphic novels with best-selling author Dean Koontz featuring his character Odd Thomas, and illustrated the graphic novel Small Shen, written by Australian best-selling author Kylie Chan. In 2025, Queenie completed her PhD on Comic Studies from Macquarie University, with her thesis being an analysis of digital capitalism, creative labourers in the form of digital comic creators, and South Korean webtoons. She is currently working on book four in The Dreaming series, as well as some shorter stories with US publisher Viz.
Owen Heitmann (chair)
Owen Heitmann (he/him) is a multi-award-winning Adelaide-based writer and artist whose comics have been published in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. His comics include Sun, Sand & Self-Doubt, which received a Silver Ledger from the Comic Arts Awards of Australia in 2024. While the storyline is fictional, the setting and incidental details of Sun, Sand & Self-Doubt draw heavily on Owenโs childhood memories of family holidays at South Australian beaches. Owen is also the founder of Amplified Press, a micropublisher with a focus on amplifying the voices of diverse South Australian comics creators, and co-director of Papercuts Comics Festival.
Presented by CDW Studios
CDW Stuยญdios School of Visuยญal Effects and Enterยญtainยญment Design has been runยญning since 2011 and proยญvides artists Ausยญtralia-wide with the most up-to-date and relยญeยญvant eduยญcaยญtion availยญable to kickstart their career. You can find out more by visiting their website or by following them on Instagram or Facebook!
