Work-life imbalance inspires new web comic
Meet Adrian Knight, one of nine artists behind Depth of Mind
When digital artist Adrian Knight and a team of eight other students at Sisler High School were looking for inspiration for a new student project, they didn't have to go far.
Knight, a post-high school student in Sisler's Create program, and the rest of the team tapped into something they could all relate to: the stress of a too-busy life.
After months of fine-tuning the story and illustrating the cells, Depth of Mind, a new digital comic about a digital artist struggling with the pressures of finding a work-life balance, was born.
"We've all had our own personal struggles with this stuff, so it was overall a very relatable subject for all of us," Knight said.
The images in the comic, including of a room filling up with water, represent the feelings Knight has struggled with in the past.
"It's a metaphor for [the character] drowning in her work and her mental state not being good, and she's trapped in this small room with nowhere else to go," Knight said.
"It may not be realistic in terms of your room filling up with water, but sometimes it really feels like you're drowning and you can't breathe under all the stress."
The comic was a year-long group project for the nine Winnipeg students. They are now working on animating the web comic. Check out more of the comic here.
The comic and its real-life inspiration is now also the subject of a new short film: Head Above Water by Sisler Create filmmaking students Gino Villaceran, Mark Mariano and Mailyn Ramiscal. The film dives into Knight's own struggle with depression and anxiety and how art and the web comic project helped them. (Knight uses they/them pronouns.)
The film is part of a larger collaboration between CBC Creator Network and Sisler Create that offers multimedia training and experience. CBC Manitoba and Sisler have been collaborating on a storytelling project since September 2022. The post-high students in the filmmaking program have been producing micro-docs since November 2022.
Meet the filmmakers
CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC journalists to produce short videos.
During fall 2022, CBC journalists led storytelling and producing workshops over several weeks with filmmaking students at the Create program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg. Since then, the students have produced original videos for CBC Manitoba.
The Sisler Create program focuses on education and career pathways into creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.