Where Are The Women?

Perhaps you've wondered why there are no women in my strip, yet.  That is no big mystery: I've just been adding characters one at a time, and it's easier for me to conjure and draw a male character than female character. But at this point, the time is ripe for the introduction of my first female character. 

I've had some in mind, but it is only when I really need to have a character, that I get serious about creating one.

Today I did some sketches, and the first character that emerged has dark hair, and is a 'girl-next-door' type. After I drew her, I thought that she might look like a character from the strip, LuAnn. So I checked, and have decided that my character looks unique enough, i.e. unique enough to be a new character in the LuAnn strip.  But since, I'm putting her in my strip first, I've got dibs, so there.

I've not finalized the character, but I'm going to add her, anyway, and develop within the strip. And as an extra added bonus, you get to watch my (her) progress as it happens!

Watched C-Span2 For 53 Hours

This one was especially fun for me.  I got to do a different character, scene, and perspective. I used muted colors in the middle panel, and no outline around it. My lettering is still rough, and I'm not sure how I'm going to improve it, or if I even can soon improve it.  I might use Photoshop to produce nice uniform text.  We'll see.

Yachts O' Luck

I guess we can't all live in the rarefied air of Larry's world, although Larry doesn't seem to know that in this case. The good thing about 'telephone characters' is that I don't have to draw them. This strip reminds me of some comedians in the early sixties, who used this one-sided telephone conversation  shtick in their acts, especially Bob Newhart.

This Doesn't Suit Ivan

Ivan thinks he's in deep trouble, but I don't think there have been any successful heresy suits in the last several decades.  Can Larry be dissuaded?

Ivan's God Painting

Our heroes come and go so quickly.  It's difficult to find people who are blemish free.  Yet we all seem to want to have someone to look up to, and emulate.  The really good ones are hard to emulate, precisely because they have higher standards than the rest of us.

Ivan Has A High Aspiration

Mr. Rhooms changed his shirt (color).  Cartoon characters usually wear the same clothes all the time.  That's the good thing about cartoonland: no laundry, and no ironing.

I don't know if anyone uses the word 'jazzed', but I like the sound of it.

Drawing God

Drawing God is really really hard.  That's why you don't see Him drawn much, although lately He appears in cartoons, often in Heaven, (which is evidently in/on clouds), making a smart remark about some poor sap, who is not getting what he wants.  Perhaps there is a lesson there: don't complain about not getting what you want.

BTW, why aren't thousands of people reading my blog? That just sucks.

Music As Heaven/Hell - Answers

Here are the answers to December 7th fun trivia quiz about Heavy Metal vs Spa album names.

Heavy Metal: 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16
Spa: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15
 
The following updated album list includes the artists:
 
 1. Dawn Of A New Century: by Secret Garden
 2. East Of The Full Moon: by Deuter
 3. Filth Hounds Of Hades: by Tank
 4. Fire Down Under: by Riot
 5. Iron Fist: by Motorhead
 6. Jeweled Space: by Iasos
 7. Liquid Crystal Love: by Iasos
 8. Kill 'Em All: by Metallica
 9. Ocean Memories: by Bola Sete
10. Piece Of Mind: by Iron Maiden
11. Roses And Solitude: Kelly Yost
12. Screaming For Vengeance: by Judas Priest
13. Sirens: by It Dies Today
14. Throne Realms: by Iasos (CD: Timeless Sounds)
15. Tranquility: by Tranquiliity
16. Welcome To Hell: by Venom

And yes, some of these might have been possible for either category!

Only One Creator?

The inventor, Ennis, holds a unique position in the thoughts of RoboCat.  It would be safe to say that RoboCat has a personal relationship with his God.

Since the last strip, I'm back to RoboCat having its speach shown in full 'computer-text', but I forgot the heat-vents on his back.  It's always something ...

Missionary Charlie Meets RoboCat

This is the first strip with RoboCat in color.  He has red 'Droid'-like eyes, but I got that idea from 2001: A Space Odyssey, so they are now public-domain eyes. RoboCat has sharp teeth here; I'm playing around with the look. I forgot to have RoboCat text in 'computerese', which I do in Photoshop, but at least I have the squiggly bubble connoting weird speech.

Music As Heaven/Hell

I'm easily distracted. That's why while I work, I like to listen to soothing instrumental music, sometimes called Spa music. Some of the names of the album titles are quite clearly aimed at communicating the idea of soothing and calm. The naming options seem limited, so the same sorts of names keep popping up. The opposite music may be Heavy Metal, and again there, the names seem limited.

So, in the spirit of celebrating cliches, I have a little test for you. Here is a alphabetical list of sixteen sixteen Spa and Heavy Metal album titles. See if you can tell which is which. Make two lists: one of the numbers for Spa, and one for the numbers of Heavy Metal. The answer will appear in a later post.

 1. Dawn Of A New Century
 2. East Of The Full Moon
 3. Filth Hounds Of Hades
 4. Fire Down Under
 5. Iron Fist
 6. Jeweled Space
 7. Liquid Crystal Love
 8. Kill 'Em All
 9. Ocean Memories
10. Piece Of Mind
11. Roses And Solitude
12. Screaming For Vengeance
13. Sirens
14. Throne Realms
15. Tranquility
16. Welcome To Hell