Pat Grant

Dr. Pat Grant brings his experience a writer, illustrator and designer to his teaching and research in Animation and Visual Communication at UTS. He is an internationally recognised author of two graphic novels and a leading voice in the practiced-based study of visual storytelling.

Pat’s research expertise sits at the intersection of visual storytelling and graphic anthropology. He uses critical tools rooted in cultural studies, ethnography and phenomenological anthropology to explore technologies of the moving body such as drawing and handwriting. He is interested in finding new ways to understand creative practice, work, sports, and everyday life through fieldwork, drawing and storytelling.

Pat is the author of two graphic novels that have been published internationally and have garnered several awards. Pat's first book Blue was published in the USA, Australia, France and Italy. Blue, a critical darling, was listed as one of the great graphic novels of 2012 by the US culture journal Salon. His next graphic novel, The Grot, is funded by at $40,000 grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and will be published by Top Shelf (US) Ici Méme (France) and BAO (Italy) in 2020.

Pat has won several awards including an Aurealis Award for best graphic novel, A Ledger Award for excellence in Australian comics, a Good Design award. He has also been nominated for a Walkley for excellence in multimedia journalism.

Pat is a pioneer in the practice-based study of graphic storytelling and has contributed to the development of undergraduate curricula in visual narrative at UTS and at Melbourne University.

He is the founder and co-director of Comic Art Workshop, an independent organisation that supports graphic novelists and comic-book artists who are working on ambitious projects through a rigorous process of literary workshopping.

Says Pat. “Working as part of the faculty in the School of Design has enriched my practice. It has forced me to translate the intuitive processes of drawing, design and storytelling into propositional ideas that can be shared in the classroom and in research.”