Why Walter Scott is saying goodbye to Wendy, his most famous creation

Ten years ago, Walter Scott went to a hangover brunch where he drew a stick figure of a party girl vomiting. The Mohawk artist had just returned from an artist residency at the Banff Centre, where many of the other artists he met created intense, conceptual work. 

"I felt this pressure to be more austere and academic in the way that I make things," Scott tells Q's Tom Power. "Then I think that pressure just broke. I was like, 'I'm going to make this really stupid drawing of someone vomiting.' And it was the first thing that had made me feel joy in a long time."

Scott never imagined that this animated character, who he called Wendy, would stay with him for the next decade and span a series of four graphic novels. In the Wendy series, Scott follows the character's journey as a comic book artist who must contend with both the art world and her personal life. 

Scott's latest installment in the series, The Wendy Award, follows Wendy struggling with imposter syndrome after receiving a nomination for the prestigious National FoodHut Contemporary Art Prize. 

But after the new graphic novel comes out on July 9, Scott may be saying goodbye to Wendy — at least for a few years. 

"Wendy and I have been together for a while," he says. "It's time to explore other things."

The Wendy novels are loosely based on Scott's own life. Like Scott, Wendy is also a comics artist (with her own popular comic strip, Wanda) and in the first book, Wendy has a love triangle similar to one that Scott actually had. Wendy's nomination for a prestigious art award is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Scott's own nomination for the prestigious Sobey Art Award. 

Though he hesitates to call her his alter ego, Scott acknowledges that writing about Wendy has impacted his psyche. It's partly why he's now looking to go in new creative directions. 

"I personally want to step away from narrating my own life — or a version of it," he says. "I want to just live it for a while, a little more privately than I have."

The Wendy novels all examine the artist's public world, such as Wendy publishing her work or putting on a face for fans. 

Scott also examines the artist's private experiences in the novels. In The Wendy Award, he deliberately makes Wendy's personal life a "mess," despite everyone thinking she's doing great — especially on the heels of her nomination for the big art award. 

"Regardless of how publicly somebody might perceive an artist and the success that they've had ... they're still making instant coffee at noon and contemplating where they've gone wrong," Scott says. 

The graphic novel also has Wendy grapple with existential questions that Scott often asks himself: can art save you? Can success save you? Can honesty in your artwork make your life worse?

"It all sounds really depressing," Scott says, "But I promise you, it's funny."

Even as Scott moves away from his work with Wendy, he doesn't think she's gone forever. He plans to have her "guest star" in some of his upcoming work with other characters.

"I think it might be interesting to say goodbye to Wendy for a while and then see where she's at 10 years from now," he says. "Maybe it's time for her to get into her influencer era, her Jennifer Aniston skincare commercial era."

The full interview with Walter Scott is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Walter Scott produced by Vanessa Greco.