Jack Welfare, who illustrates under the name Fern, is a UK-based illustrator focused on narrative self-published comics that explore issues of LGBT people and their stories, drawing from their own experiences. Welfare aims to push the boundaries of digital illustration, using heavy vintage/analogue textures, informed by zines and comics of the 80s/90s. They also draw influence from photo-collage and digital collage, creating detailed and intricate collage compositions in some of their work. Welfare's work has a heavy focus on bold colour palettes, often using heavily saturated colours.

Welfare wants to use their illustration practice to uplift LGBT/Queer voices in the medium through telling stories. In the coming year, they plan to take “Asphyxia”, their comic produced for their Final Major Project, further and produce more issues of it. They've spent the past three years constantly growing and evolving their visual language, and want to see how they can grow it further in their future professional practice.