A 27-mile stretch of waterway between Kendal and Lancaster is to be the focus for the world’s first canal comic book.

The 50-page publication called ‘The Lanky’ will capture the people and places along the Lancaster Canal and feature well-known landmarks along the route.

Thanks to a £15,000 grant from Arts Council England National Lottery, the Lancaster Canal Regeneration Partnership (LCRP) has been able to commission talented Manchester artist Oliver East to bring a fresh interpretation of the canal.

The book will be launched at the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in Kendal in October.

And Oliver will also be hoping to inspire a new generation of young artists by working with three primary schools – Stramongate in Kendal, Holme and Christchurch in Lancaster – in a number of comic workshops scheduled for September. He will also be leading two guided walks as part of the festival.

Music lovers may already know his work from album covers created for Mancunian band ‘Elbow’ - The Seldom Seen Kid and Build A Rocket Boys albums. But Oliver has also carved out another distinctive artistic niche with his ‘walking comics’ based on long distance walks.

Sketching on the move, Oliver will be walking the canal towpath between Kendal and Lancaster several times over the coming months, collecting stories about local people and places. Anecdotes and historical facts will be reinterpreted in his comic book style to bring to life two centuries of the ‘Black and White Canal’.

“I’ve been creating walking comics for ten years now, so producing one about the Lancaster Canal feels like a natural fit," explained Oliver. "It will be a fictional work inspired by facts and stories, not a history book or a guidebook, and with an element of poetry within each panel, echoing the movement of walking. I prefer to draw directly from real life unlike many other comic book artists - there’s more life in a line created in the field.

“The comic’s narrative will interweave different periods of history, looking at life on the canal from the viewpoint of a variety of characters, starting at the grand opening of the canal 200 years ago to the present day. People visiting the Lancaster Canal will recognise scenes in the book from real life, including landmarks such as the Hincaster Tunnel and Lune Aqueduct.”

Charities and local authorities making up LCRP include the Canal & River Trust, Cumbria County Council, Inland Waterways Association, Kendal Town Council, Lancashire County Council, Lancaster Canal Trust, Lancaster City Council and South Lakeland District Council.

The major driving force energising the partnership is the potential of the Lancaster Canal to create new opportunities for leisure, tourism and economic development in South Cumbria and Lancashire.

Partnership chair Audrey Smith said: “We are very grateful to Arts Council England for supporting this exciting project to create a fresh, innovative interpretation of the Lancaster Canal. Comic illustration felt like the perfect way to celebrate and share its vibrant history.

“We are hoping to secure extra funding to extend the comic book further and transpose the project from 2D into 3D. We may also want to reproduce some of the artwork on future canal towpath interpretation panels or perhaps display the comic art on bridges along the trail for an even wider audience to enjoy.”

For more information about the Canal Comic Book project, check out the Lancaster Canal Regeneration Partnership website: https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/aYwwBFEnpAh4.

Photos show artist Oliver East at Lune Aqueduct, Lancaster. Oliver with LCRP chair Audrey Smith and Canal & River Trust heritage adviser Bill Froggatt. Photo credit: Getty Images

Work in progress – illustrations from the comic book – Canal Head Kendal; Hincaster Tunnel; Lune Aqueduct, Lancaster; Change Bridge, Kendal. (High res versions available on request.)