The human brain is a fascinating organ. We all possess one (although I must admit some people make you feel as though they didn’t). But have you ever felt like you would need an instruction manual for your brain? And then, while you are thinking about it, you wonder “Well, how many pages would such an instruction manual actually have?”. That is what I feel like most of the time. My name is Tim and I have a Troll Brain. This may sound like a  “alcoholics anonymous”-type confession, but in fact I take some pride in being the owner of my Troll Brain. The reason why I call my brain “The Troll Brain” is because sometimes it seems as though it was in fact a little troll. Sometimes, I wonder where my Troll Brain gets all its ideas from, especially when I suddenly get an idea or a a sudden burst of motivation in the middle of the night, when I actually want to sleep. The story goes on… 😉

The Troll Brain is a project which had been on my mind for a very long time. In fact, I was already doodling first sketches of The Troll Brain when I was still at school. I’ve always had a special relationship with my brain. I was diagnosed with cluster headache when I was only 16 years old. Cluster headache are a very severe headache condition. Unlike migraine, you get multiple severe headache attacks throughout the day. It’s a disease which left me  feeling devastated and burnt out for many years. The illness has deprived me of a normal adolescence. What has always helped me to deal with the illness and develop a more optimistic approach to life was to learn how the brain works and what’s happening in my brain while I have a cluster attack. Ultimately, I was lucky enough to find a really good neurologist who has been very empathetic and supportive and always enabled me to get access to the best treatment options available at the time. My cluster headaches are under control now and I feel very grateful for this. Therefore, over the years, I learnt to appreciate my brain, although it’s not perfect. While it has a few flaws, it does incredible things on a daily basis and has allowed me to do incredible things- such as learning foreign languages, drawing, learning new instruments and…study medicine. 

Sometimes, we are very hard on ourselves, feeling stupid or incompetent and we tend to forget to appreciate our achievements and capabilities and that the human brain is a very fascinating, amazing organ. We all have our difficult moments- we can all act “stupid” sometimes, be incongruent, feel sad, unsure, etc. This is what makes us human. However, we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves and on our brains. Modern society expects us to be happy, productive, well-behaved, assertive, determined (the list goes on) all the time. That’s a lot of pressure and far from realistic, because it’s just as  important to be sad, unproductive, uncreative, lazy, incongruent, indecisive every now and again. In essence, we should grant ourselves the right to feel the entire spectrum of emotions, not just the positive ones. They all serve a purpose, believe or not. And that’s why I’m drawing this comic. I would like to show that sometimes we can mess up completely, but life goes on. Things do not always have to make sense.

Many people have already told me they could identify with my comics. And that‘s just awesome- knowing that you guys enjoy reading my comics is the best reward ever. I really do appreciate your feedback- both positive and negative. Having already gone through a lot in life, I like to take life with humour, which is why, in retrospect, I can laugh about most awkward situations I have already encountered. And that’s basically what my comic is about: entertainment. Life is more enjoyable when you can laugh about yourself.

I have basically always been drawing. I can already remember myself doodling around and inventing little stories when I was only 3 years-old. The idea of creating a comic about my Troll Brain had already been on my mind for many years, if not decades (I’m 34 years old, by the way ;)). However, last year, when the pandemic began, I finally had some time (in fact I had lots of it) and energy to get my head around coming up with a design and some more concrete ideas. As you can see on the image above, which was actually the first sketch of the Troll Brain and its owner that I have made, the looks of both the character and the Troll Brain have evolved a bit over the time. I hope you like the result!

Oh…and in case you’re wondering what I’m doing for a living (which is not drawing comics): I’m a medical doctor. Neurology and psychiatry have always fascinated me. In the long run, I would like to provide you guys with some interesting facts about the nervous system on here as well. But remember that I’m drawing this comic from the perspective of a private person.

So stay tuned and enjoy your regular dose of cognitive dissonance!

Best wishes,