KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Freelance illustrator Mimi Mashud loved to draw when she was a child. If not comic characters, she would be doodling away to make little picture books.

But winning the top spot in a drawing competition organised by Petronas when she was eight paved the way to her artistic career.

“I received a 36-piece colour pencil set as the prize,” the travelogue-comic book author says. “It was the biggest set I had ever laid my eyes on and I was the happiest kid on the block for days!”

Born and bred in in Bangi, Mimi, 34, has just published her second travelogue-comic book entitled Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days (or KTi7D), a light-hearted pictorial essay of her week-long trip to her mother’s hometown.

“I remember giving my primary school teacher a shock when he asked me about my ambition,” says Mimi, who is the eldest of three. “I said I wanted to be an artist — he mistook it for ‘artiste’. When I clarified what I meant, he was so relieved. My parents have also been very supportive of my pursuit in art.”

Mimi describes KTi7D as her “ambling about my mother’s hometown for a week,” as she takes her readers through some of the tourist spots, local food, and the local lingo, with information provided by her mum and relatives — whom she has immortalised in the book.

“I wanted the book to be light-hearted yet informative,” says Mimi, who holds a Bachelor of Multimedia from Monash University. KTi7D was inspired by her love for Lat’s work when she was a child.

“My mother would buy me Lat’s books, from Kampung Boy to Mat Som.”

A few years ago, she was introduced to a genre of literature known as travelogue-comic, works such as Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem, Craig Thompson's Carnet de Voyage, and Florent Chavouet's Tokyo On Foot.

“At the time, I got to know about the Urban Sketcher movement. I started to make location-based drawings. That was when I realised that no one else was making such travelogue-comic locally and I decided to go for it.”

Her family’s trip to Beijing in 2010 resulted in her maiden effort, Beijing in 5 Days, in 2013. The book was self-published and later used to pitch for the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) grant to produce Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days.

The grant allowed her to take six months off freelance work to concentrate on the book but to qualify, she had to make it an interactive comic. The grant also came with a six-month deadline.

“I got the guys from app-developer Terato Tech to help me build an app for KTi7D interactive version. The app, available through the iTunes App Store, was released in September this year.

'Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days' is expected to hit major bookstores in the country by middle next month. — Picture by Tung Eng Swee

“However, I felt that print was the best medium for this book. At the same time, I was not sure who would be interested and was also worried about taking the wrong step, so I decided to look for a publisher.”

At the time, Mimi met writer Dina Zaman on the Internet and asked for advice. Dina told her to talk to Amir Muhammad.

“Amir had bought my Beijing in 5 Days earlier this year, so I emailed and asked if he was interested in my second book. He hooked me up with Amir Hafizi and Fairul ‘Roy’ Nizam, who were in the midst of setting up Maple Comics as they were also working on Invasi, a graphic novel based on a FIXI novel."

Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days saw light of day on Dec 13 as a 100-page soft-cover travelogue comic published by Maple Comics. Mimi wrote, drew, inked and did the watercolours for it, with digital colouring by local talent Tay Yen Ee.

“The most challenging phase was pencilling. It took me four months. I didn’t see myself as a highly-skilled draftsman so I was actually learning as I completed each page.

“Visually, KTi7D is much more detailed than Beijing in 5 Days and I was surprised to be able to complete the book within the stipulated time.

“It did get to a point that I was so drained from working on it but I couldn’t give up because I was bound by contract to finish it by June this year,” she admits. “I think I stopped drawing for a while after I finished it!”

KTi7D is priced at RM25 each and available online from http://lepakmaple.blogspot.com and http://www.fixi.com.my. It is also being promoted at the Comic Fiesta 2014 at the KL Convention Centre which ends tomorrow and will hit the major bookstores nationwide by the middle of next month.

“For now, it’s being marketed by word of mouth and through the social network. Feedback on the book has also been gratifyingly nice. People seem to enjoy it. You can see their reviews/testimonials on hashtag #kti7d, both on Twitter and Instagram.”

For the long term, Mimi plans to do a series of travelogue-comic books.

“My mum has suggested Alor Star next and dad is waiting for Selangor in 8 Days because he was born in Selangor,” she says. And if there is demand, she adds, she may be translating the book into Bahasa Malaysia.

Mimi can be reached here.

Mimi also paints miniature acrylic paintings. — Picture by Tung Eng Swee