The Tap Desktop Calendar 2026
The Tap Desktop Calendar 2026 is out! This year’s calendar includes 12 comics that you can cut out and keep long after the year is over. I’ve also included 12 of my favourite illustrations in 5×5 size which you can use as prints…. scroll down for pics 🙂
Order within India
Delivery within a week to ten days.Â
Order to the UK, EU, USA and rest of the world here
Order now to avoid any delays. Shipping starts early November.
Important: Please note that if you live in the EU, you might need to pay local VAT to collect the parcel.
Ellie explains trauma: A guide for children and adolescents
It’s not often that a project speaks to both your heart and craft. Something I’ve been working on quietly over the last few months has validated all the work I’ve done over the years, as it’s so closely aligned with my purpose. When Parandaman Thechanamurthi, a Specialist Chartered Forensic Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS), reached out to me, I was intrigued. Parandaman supports children and adolescents in juvenile offending, child protection, and family protection cases. Many of the young people he works with have experienced trauma or other complex mental health challenges. His focus is on understanding each child’s story and helping them feel supported, and heard, even in difficult legal or clinical settings.
For very young children involved in legal proceedings, undergoing a psychological assessment can be frightening. How do you explain trauma in a way they can understand? How do you help them feel safe in that moment? To answer this, we collaborated on an animated presentation. Through the Ellie the Elephant and Bunny the Rabbit, children learn why the brain sometimes reacts in extreme ways, and what they can do to feel calmer, grounded, and more in control.
This animated storybook is designed to be used with a counsellor, helping young ones process emotions they might not yet understand, through words and images to emotions they might not yet understand. It’s meant to be used in its animated format on a tablet, allowing plenty of time for pause and discussion.
Though this material was created for children and adolescents, I think it’s also a useful guide for adults. Swipe through below and view in full screen mode for the best experience.
Creating a comic: The journey
When I started creating comics 15 years ago, it started out as a joke: I was making funny comic strips for friends at university. Over time, it’s grown into something that’s allowed me the freedom to escape from reality as well as embrace it. I’ve had the joy of not only bringing my own stories to life but also others’ — and that’s truly a privilege! I’ve found that creating comics is an amazing journey: both an outdoor expedition and inwards exploration. It’s allowed me to discover that I have the power to create magic (just like you do) just by being me, through genuine self-expression.
The comic below was created for TeacherPlus, a magazine for educators run by the Azim Premji Foundation in India.
Homecoming
I recently experimented with a new personality but I decided I liked the older me better. 🙂
I often go back to this quote I read 15 years ago in Death by Music by Rukun Advani:
“It was that oscillation between feeling traumatically low and excitedly high that sank me in gloom, making me sceptical about living out life with an emotional gas regulator, always checking on how much feeling to let flow, how high to keep the flame without burning other people or burning out, how much of myself to express without feeling vulnerable, exposed, misunderstood.”
After unsuccessfully trying to regulate myself for the last few years, I’ve decided to give up and let myself feel vulnerable, exposed, misunderstood.
The Tap Desktop Calendar 2025
The Tap Desktop Calendar 2025 is now out! This year’s calendar is extra-special as it’s the 10th edition of the calendar! It’s also likely to be the last, at least in its current avatar. I’m so grateful to all of you for having kept it going for the last 10 years. 🙂 To celebrate this decade-long run, I’ve included tips on finding ideas and creating your own comic strip in this edition. I hope you enjoy it!
Order within India here (Google Forms/UPI)Â or use this link for paying with a card (instead of UPI)
Deliveries to India typically take about a week.Â
Order to the UK, EU, USA and rest of the world here (BigCartel/accepts most forms of payment including Paypal)Â
Shipping to these regions will start on Dec 10th. Order now to avoid any delays.
IMPORTANT! Please note that if you live in the EU, you might need to pay local VAT to collect the parcel.
Pay with an international card but ship within IndiaÂ
For anyone who wants to ship to an address in India but use a global card to pay.Â
The Tap Desktop Calendar 2024 is here!
Another year, another calendar. I’m so glad to announce that my 2024 calendar is now ready and up for sale! 🙂 I almost didn’t make one this year… but then I did. It features comics about plants and trees (of course), slowing down, and finding purpose.
Worth mentioning that the printing company I work with has eliminated plastic from their packaging and now use biodegradable paper, woohoo!
A friend of mine offered to take some pictures of the calendar for the website. In an incredible coincidence, a butterfly landed on the very page that features a butterfly! Isn’t that incredible?! See the top left and bottom right corners of the pic below!
