This is a visual abstract for a conference paper at the Theoretical Archaeology Group conference 2018 (Chester). The conveners of the conference session ‘Practising Creativity: Experimentation, Mistakes and Successes in Art-Archaeology’, James Dixon and Seren Griffiths, ask participants to discuss experimentation in art-archaeology. Artists have been inspired by archaeology, and archaeologists by art: but what about the realities of creative practice in archaeology, warts and all? My paper introduces my use of archaeological comics during my PhD research, relating some of the successes and failures, and where I think this might go next.