The Goldilocks Zone

The inspiration for this comic struck to me one morning in 2017 as I was making my son breakfast. The thought of combining the ‘Goldilocks zone’ theory - habitable planets that are ‘just right’ for extraterrestrial life - with the fairy-tale that inspired it amused me enough to stick in my mind, and I immediately began sketching ideas.

It then dawned on me, that it might make a good entry for the Jonathan Cape/Observer Graphic Short Story Competition, the deadline for which was only 3 weeks away. I stripped back my style to simple, fast lines and shapes, and gave it a simple gold coloured palette, threw in a few silly jokes and got it ready with hours to spare.

I think this concept is ripe for developing further (see the image below), but at the time it was refreshing to create something that I wasn’t too precious about, and just have a bit of fun.