About Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble is the Yorkshire Comic Art Festival! A week long celebration of comics, illustration and more spread across the whole of Yorkshire, finishing in a huge two day comic convention in Harrogate. We use our festival week to promote the power of comics! We believe they can inspire, educate and bring people together like no other medium, so whether you're a longtime fan of comic art or have never picked up a graphic novel before, you’ll find something for you.

Thought Bubble is a non-profit organisation with our chosen charity being Barnardo’s!

We’d like to thank the photographers and filmmakers who have worked with us along the way including Andrew Benge, Kate Broughton, Dan Roebuck, Milena Stephenson.

meet team Thought Bubble

NABIL HOMSI Nabil owns Travelling Man (our partner comic store who we share our office with!) and is also a founder of Thought Bubble, having had a big hand in guiding and financing it. Travelling Man continues to be interlinked with Thought Bubble… — **NABIL HOMSI**
**Founder & Director**

Nabil owns Travelling Man, the comic book shops, and is also a founder of Thought Bubble; having had a big hand in guiding and financing it from the start. Nabil stepped back into the day to day running of Thought Bubble in 2021 - wearing many hats in his role! Nabil is a massive Sparks fan (like follows them EVERYWHERE massive), is a prolific watcher of YouTube videos about planes and food, is official taste tester to his partner Kim-Joy, and is cat dad to two very adorable kittens, Inki and Mochi.

MARTHA JULIANAssistant DirectorMartha moved from Plymouth to Leeds in 2003 and worked as an Administrator at the University of Leeds. In 2011 she volunteered at Thought Bubble, helping to set up the halls. In return she was given a weekend ticket an… — **MARTHA JULIAN**
**Festival Director**
Martha moved from Plymouth to Leeds in 2003 and worked as an Administrator at the University of Leeds. In 2011 she volunteered at Thought Bubble, helping to set up the halls. In return she was given a weekend ticket and was completely blown away by all the incredible work on show, and all the lovely people. She contacted Lisa to ask if there was any work going. Lisa brought Martha in to help with a few bits, and years later she’s still here and loving every minute. In her spare time she sings in an electro pop band, and hangs out with her excellent daughter [edit: and excellent boyfriend - sorry Stu!].

AMY BELLWOODSponsorship & Funding ManagerAmy started working at Thought Bubble in May 2018 and loves doing something new every time she comes into work. She previously worked at Leeds College of Art and fully believes that art should be for ever… — **AMY BELLWOOD**
**Festival Director**
Amy started working at Thought Bubble in May 2018 and loves doing something new every time she comes into work. She previously worked at Leeds College of Art and fully believes that art should be for everyone. Outside of Thought Bubble Amy keeps several humans alive and is learning pottery, one wobbly pot at a time. Amy feels super awkward talking about herself in third person.

CHLOË GREEN

Festival Director

Chloë attended Thought Bubble for the first time in 2018 as a volunteer, and the next year applied for a full time role. Working at Thought Bubble has given her the chance to indulge her lifelong love of art. Chloë recently received a Master of Arts Degree in Illustration with Graphic Novel from Leeds Arts University, and makes her own comics too. Mostly, you’ll find Chloë walking her best pal, Eva, staring at plants, and drinking many, many black coffees.

**STEVE EMMOTT**
**Operations Manager**

Steve joined Thought Bubble on its third year. Steve is a director of Travelling Man so his comic, board-game and geek knowledge comes in handy when planning the comic con. When Steve isn't making sure our convention weekend runs without a single hitch, you'll find him in fields wearing armour and carrying a large sword. Steve also supplies the whole office with bourbon biscuits…

PETER GORBERTVolunteer CoordinatorPete has been a Thought Bubble volunteer since 2010, and the volunteer coordinator since 2014. He's been reading comics since he was but a small child and is on a one man mission to get Sean McKeever to come to Thou… — **PETER GORBERT**
**Volunteer Coordinator**
Pete has been a Thought Bubble volunteer since 2010, and the volunteer coordinator since 2014. He's been reading comics since he was but a small child and is on a one man mission to get Sean McKeever to come to Thought Bubble. When he's not managing volunteers at Thought Bubble he's busy managing the RSPCA York Animal Home, helping animals find their forever home. He loves Otters, feel free to send him pictures of otters.

Thought Bubble history

Thought Bubble started life in November 2007 as a one day event, an idea sparked by renowned comic artist Tula Lotay (aka Lisa Wood). At the time Lisa worked in a Leeds comic book shop, Travelling Man. Travelling Mans Director, Nabil Homsi, encouraged Lisa to get Thought Bubble going, he gave guidance and financial support to make it happen. The first convention took place in the basement of Leeds Town Hall. The following year the convention grew, and then grew again and again.

From the very beginning Thought Bubble’s ethos has been to celebrate comics and the people who make them. This focus on comics, the creators and the fans makes Thought Bubble a unique kind of festival, especially loved by comic creators themselves! This leads to a consistently high calibre of talent at our annual comic convention.

With humble beginnings, Thought Bubble has gone from strength to strength, with an unparalleled reputation and a growth built primarily on word of mouth and a deep love of comics and the people who make them. Now the event has grown to a huge week long festival and attracts thousands of attendees and guests from around the world.

Festival Artwork: 2008 - Present

“When I founded Thought Bubble in 2007, my aim was to create a friendly and inclusive event that showed everyone the wealth of sequential art and highlighted it as one of the most interesting and diverse art mediums. The industry was pretty different back then, and as a female artist it will always be really important to me that the industry I work in and love embraced diversity.

This is why, 12 years ago, I decided that every Thought Bubble festival image would be created by a woman. Commissioning a unique piece of art is always really exciting and being able to show-case women's art in this way is really special to me. Moving forward we’re going to keep this theme alive and expand it to include other diverse groups within the industry. I can't wait to see the next set of wonderful images.”

~ Lisa Wood a.k.a Tula Lotay (Founder)