Obviously you have to teach babies not to smush their furry siblings. Then again, I have to remind myself of the same thing everyday.
Funny Dog Comics: Where Labrador Retrievers Want to Live
For the record, I’d go on that walk with her. Of course I’m pretty sure doggy ice cream is universal and not just a labrador thing. But man, Sophie adored her ice cream. We’d have to watch her, because she’d lick away the entire cardboard container. And nothing interrupted her ice cream break.
And yes, that’s Gizmo in Doug’s arms.
Free Comics: Who's the Baby Here?
When you have foster dogs coming and going it’s amazin to watch how quickly some dogs assume leadership roles. Of course, not all of my dogs were leaders. Annie was 100% a tough mamma. And now Weezy is the watch dog. protector, and nurse all in one.
Kids Jokes: Flying Foster Dogs
Flying fosters.
Funny Dog Comics: Diaper Derailment
I’ve snuck Michael Bay references in a few strips. I truly do enjoy his films.
Family Friendly Comics: Finger Licking Good
Dogs are nature’s baby washing machines.
Funny Free Comics: What Dogs Teach Us
Dogs teach us a lot. Some of those things might be a felony.
Funny Dog Comics: Night Shlurping
This is a daily and nightly occurence in our house. Because of Luther’s condition, he’s constantly licking. And while it is super annoying, the poor dog can’t help it.
Anyone have a doggo with odd or annoying nightly habits?
If Aliens are real, what's with all the probing?
I have a dozen doodles of aliens looming over a sleeping human. For whatever reason, I find that particular setup funny. And a probe joke seems a little easy. The low hanging fruit. But I liked the idea of suggesting a probing without saying it directly. Also, once I drew the guy’s eyes open, it made it a lot funnier.
I’ve never been into UFOs all that much, besides the X-Files. Have to admit, some of the more recent footage is pretty compelling whether you believe its aliens or not. If you know what I’m talking about, be sure to go back and check out “The Joe Rogan Experience”, episode 1361, with Commander Fravor. This isn’t some loon claiming he saw flying dinner plates messing with cows. This guy for sure saw something and has the video to back it up.
Free Funny - Needy Monsters
Beginning to wonder if this was a metaphor for some of my foster dogs. Haven't had any that have wreaked this much destruction, but a few have come close. A lot of these quick toons sprout from common sayings that I catch myself and others repeated consistently. Then my imagination takes it to the extreme, or more accurately, the dark extreme. It's not a technique I consciously farm, but maybe I should.
On that note, I'm going to have more live-streams coming up. Currently getting familiar with OBS, Open Broadcasting Software. The plan is to live-stream drawing comic strips, children's book illustrations and single panel cartoons. So while I figure out the difference between "scenes" and "sources" in O.B.S., I'm also putting together lesson outlines and ideas.
If there's a particular concept or process or technique you'd like to see live-streamed, let me know in the comments or drop me a line. Once I get more proficient at this live-streaming thing, I'll hack together a multi-cam deal so I can live draw in my notebook. Any advice in that arena is also welcome. I've always been a behind the scenes techy and never been much of a fan of being in front of the lens.
Free Comics - Dr. Frankenstein's Twitter
Have to catch up posting these cartoons here. You can always catch them on my Instagram if you want to read them as soon as they come out. This one was a bit silly and a nod to my favorite comedy of all time, “Young Frankenstein”. Thought it would be funny if the good doctor was around today and had a hard time getting views while bringing the dead back to life.
This is another one I might revisit in the future and render with a lot more detail. That’s the only drawback to Primordial Syrup. Might be only in my head, but I feel that the humor works better the more realistic and detailed the art. For now, I’m cheating, using ink washes to suggest more detail than there truly is. Although the itch to do a laboriously inked, Bernie Wrightson hatched panel is growing.
Free Comics
It’s amazing to stop and think about how many free comics there are online. We’re kind of spoiled. But that goes with the cartooning territory. I’m very fortunate to make a living drawing comics. The weird thing is, is that even before I was making a living drawing comics, or even if I wasn’t, I’d still make comics.
Case in point, this Primordial Syrup thing I’ve been doing. It started the same way all my comics did. I had to do it. Same with “Dog eat Doug”. I had to make it. This is true for most cartoonists. We’re constantly making cartoons. Now obviously, there is that part of your brain that says “hey, doofus, what if you turned this into a living?”, which is of course, the same part of your brain that over-complicates everything.
Thank goodness that part of gray matter exists. Of course it does make on heckuva bumpy ride when you do try and make cartooning a living. Which is why it’s important to separate that part from the creating part every now and then. Once you do start making a living, it can become all consuming. You get a tincy-wincy check from a magazine for a comic and bammo, that capitalist part of your brain goes into overdrive.
However, you have to treat it like a Tesla sometimes. Let the AI drive for a while and get back to making comics for the sake of making comics. When the syndication offer came in for Dog eat Doug, understandably, that became my entire world. Every other project, and even my daily doodles, got shoved into the back of the closet behind the five year old New Balance running shoes (which till this day I don’t know why I kept them).
This ultimately hurts the very thing you are so focused on improving. I learned the hard way that it was the seemingly superficial, waste of time things like doodling, or working on random ideas for comics and books, that keep that main project fresh. That crazy stream of consciousness, where bills don;t exist, is the very thing that helps sharpen the ideas you are trying to create.
Hence the reason I no longer scold myself for mindlessly doodling for an hour or two, or starting a single panel comic like “Primordial Syrup” for no logical reason other than to get the ideas out of that stream an onto paper. Or creating the Conjurers webcomic while trying to write and illustrate three books. Logically, it’s not a smart thing to do. In the long run, it’s the very thing that keeps your creative engine charged. Sometimes you have to let the crazy out.
