Graphic novelist Julian Hanshaw on the Art of Pho

This was the first picture I drew when I got back from Vietnam in 2006, just trying to get a handle on where I was going to go with the book. When I flicked through my photos I was seeing a lot of hot, dusty browns – I carried these colours right the way through to the finished book Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk This is me – though with a bit more hair. Pho is Vietnam's national dish, a spicy soup they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every morning I'd be sitting on a certain street corner in Saigon, eating my pho, deliriously happy Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk The first sighting of the red car that features in The Art of Pho. I spotted this one on the edge of Saigon, propped up on bricks, and thought straight away that it was a striking image and could be used to drive the story forward Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk These are some of the pho stands I saw on the streets of Saigon when I returned to complete the book in 2008 – you'll see them everywhere Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk This is one of the first drafts I did in Saigon in 2008. I drew up the whole book on great big A2 pads and then brought them home and scanned them in. Here I was experimenting with tone and atmosphere, wondering whether black and white would make it a more serious piece of work Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk Here's my alter ego Little Blue, as he appeared for the first time, back when I was doodling at my desk while I should have been animating. His nose grew as he spent more time in Saigon, purely to suck in the smells around him Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk There's a huge amount of wire and cable strung from building to building in Saigon, mirroring the chaos in the streets just below them – but everything seems to work somehow Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk These are just some of the marvellous things I ate as I went around Vietnam, making a nuisance of myself, pointing, nodding and smiling. I nicked the recipes idea from the Kurt Vonnegut novel Deadeye Dick – so much of the culture in Vietnam revolves around food that it would be a travesty not to include it Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk This is the darkest page in the whole book, literally and metaphorically – it's the only page that uses so much black. Little Blue is in despair at this point, and so was I. It comes from the pit of the gut; I kind of attacked the page there Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk This finished page sums up the process I used for the whole book, bringing together different styles and sketchbook work, gradually putting together layers as the story developed Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk This image made it almost unchanged into the book. I stripped out some of the detail (the background sun effect, the framing) to make it fit with the rest of the drawings, to give it more of a feeling of being done on the hoof Illustration: Julian Hanshaw Photograph: guardian.co.uk