I’m very pleased with Princess’s bloody arm in the last panel. I’m afraid that I just couldn’t get a background that I was happy with for either image and gave up. Imagine that these picture are drawn in the royal seer’s dark workshop.
I made the lindworm intentionally simple after drawing the 52 thousand scales on the dragon. She’s a little derpy but I love her.
This story took the longest to write, and is 1 of only 2 that I actually remember writing. All the others were generated in an intense flow state, basically a trance of pulling archetypes from the collective unconscious. But I had to think more deliberately to write the poems.
If there’s one thing literature teaches us about lindworms, it’s that you shouldn’t just yeet them in to a confined body of water and not expect them to turn up again in 15 or 20 years bit enough to eat a man.
Of all the amusing little details I managed to get right in this comic, this page probably contains 2 of my favorites. On the first pass, I drew the ghost in a classical ghost shroud style, which looked…really dumb. Making him a glowing, translucent guy worked out much more elegantly.
But probably my favorite image in this entire comic book is the top one, of the devil being so incredibly offended and the guy with his hobo outfit and “hey, what did I do?” expression. But devil practically clutching his pearls like, “Dude? Your own stepdaughter? Really? No. Gross,” will be cracking me up for the rest of my life.
For whatever reason, this was the easiest page to draw. It was the second one I completed, but the the first one that I was completely satisfied with. Their clothes are perfect, their expressions are perfect, the image in my mind completely matched the image on the page. You really believe these guys could be in love.
This is the page that gave me the most trouble of the book, because I desperately wanted to draw a magical ice bridge and none of my attempts look magical, or icy. Eventually I spend 3 days drawing 60-odd individual snowflakes in stupid detail that probably won’t even be visible in print and I’m satisfied with the result.
I originally had bigger plans for this page, but I scaled them back once I got the main details. It was saying pretty much what I wanted it to say, but something did seem to be missing on both sides. On the Summer Queen’s side, I realized it had to be her losing her crown, but on the Autumn Prince’s side I couldn’t figure it out. I mean, it could have been some bits of hay? But that is not very interesting.
But I took a page from my very early vision of the comic and dashed out this funny little crow, who I love. Obviously there are crows aplenty in the Autumn Kingdom. And they also think it’s weird that people make so much trouble for themselves by not saying what they mean.
But also, let’s face it: Titus and Rose did NOT belong together. That’s the point of this story. You can love someone as much as it possible to love anyone. That doesn’t mean you’re the least bit compatible or share the same goals or even see each other clearly.
I haven’t said anything about the illuminated initial caps yet. I drew most of them before I drew the illustrations. Some of them I had a very clear vision and others I just sort of made it up as I went. I always knew that the first comic would start “Once upon a time,” and the initial cap would have a little farm scene with a barn inside.
This one also was very clear in my mind. I actually have that same garden swing, which The Man built for me in the backyard. I could not get it right. The arms and legs and bodies weren’t sitting properly in the swing no matter how many times I drew it. I made the made model with me for a reference pic. Then it was easier to adjust.
This image pretty much expresses the state of the union, to my mind. It’s been a while since I drew a political cartoon. Almost precisely 8 years. It takes a lot out of you. And I did this the old fashioned way, no help from Photoshop.
This Saturday, April 5th, well over 1,000 protests are expected all across America. Either you know why or you’re part of the problem. I’m glad to live in a city where 75% of the people get it.
I made this sign 2-sided because we’re not going to let the bastards grind us down.
Can you believe how many meerkats I crammed into this sticker? Originally it was a more diverse group of creatures, to wit, a kangaroo, a llama, a panda, an elk, a sloth, and an ostrich, all wearing cool Black Rock Desert garb, but the client requested…moar meerkats in lab coats.
The name of this vehicle is the Databeast and it’s a real truck, somewhere.
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