Connor-James Belford is a.. no, wait this is totally awkward when I’m writing this myself.

I’m a 19-year-old author, illustrator and creative based in Guernsey, Channel Islands (an hour from England by plane).

My background is in Art and English, and I received As in both subjects at A Level, as well as several awards including the De Putron cup for Arts and Crafts, and the Pippa McCathie Memorial Trophy for LGBTQ+ writing.

I am currently working towards my NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism on an Apprenticeship with the BBC.

When I’m not busy taking calls or running around on interviews, I spend my time writing and illustrating my graphic novel AI boyfriend with my boyfriend Phil (and usually my cats Pablo and Lola).

Inspiration

I was inspired to start my comic on a plane last November.

Listening to Growing Up on the Internet by NOAHFINNCE, I was thinking about how hard I was finding navigating my first serious relationship.

I had just started seeing my boyfriend, but I had no idea what I was doing, and in that moment I wanted nothing more than to make some sort of robot that I could practice with.

Inspired by the success of Heartstopper, my lifelong love of manga comics, and my conversations with boyfriend chat bots online, AI boyfriend became my first attempt at a ‘proper’ professional comic book.

#OwnVoices

Whilst publishing definitely are looking for more diverse voices from marginalised creators, this type of marketing or success wasn’t a motivator for me making my own story until much later.

I’m autistic and I have been diagnosed for five years, but growing up I found no matter how hard I tried, I could never connect with other people.

I didn’t realise how this related to my autistic identity until much later, so for much of my life I felt isolated and alone.

I am also a trans guy, so I also experienced the embarrassment of growing up and figuring out my LGBTQ+ identity entirely alone.

On a tiny island I didn’t get to meet other people like me very much, and I really did feel like the only queer kid on the planet.

My main character is basically me at age sixteen, but I didn’t realise it at first.

Looking back though, if I had AI Boyfriend when I was a teenager I would have felt a lot less alone.

It’s inspired me to make the comic that I would have needed when I was 16, and to make that comic for others.

progress

I am currently preparing pitch pages to send out to agents, which you can see on the portfolio section of my blog.

I have finished an outline of my story, and I will be working on a completed script soon. Interested in my outline? Contact me here

I am also pitching to publishers and creatives at events, (if this is you, then hi :D). Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested or have any questions.