Make with the clicky on the above image to experience some comic strip fun.

Right below is my initial sketch for what was supposed to go in the last panel, the visual punchline if you will. For this comic I didn’t bother drawing out a whole draft because most of the pacing and elements of the drawing were done in my head. The only part that I had trouble visualizing was the ending where Justice happened, hence my sketch. I thought it was pretty funny the way I drew it, but when I showed the sketch to frognuts and rednop way back in 2001 they pointed out something obvious. It looked like a funny “Panda” gag that Scott Kurtz occasionally does for his comic Player vs. Player, check it out if you don’t know what I am talking about.

It was a DAMMIT! moment when I realized that they were right. Why did it happen? Simple, that was the year I began to read PvP, and I grew to really like it, and if I’m not careful then sometimes I might inadvertenly copy something from what I like into my own work. It’s pretty natural and acceptable to have a level of influence, or ‘copying’ in my work, but not too much, not so specific. Fortunately for this comic I didn’t copy too much. I still liked the basic gag involving cosmic justice and squirrels. I also liked the idea of a giant squirrel being the vehicle for Justice. Sweet, Sweet Justice. Justice….Justice.

So I redid the sketch, you can see it below the first one. I made some notes for improvements, such as a more satisfied and in retrospect less creepy face. Then I drew the thing. Anyway, the point is that I have become ever vigilant in my search for anything resembling plagiarism in my work. Fortunately most people tell you right away if it reminds them of something, at which point I’d better get my ass back to the drawing board. In my mind, my work doesn’t need ‘unoriginal’ added to its list of problems. I don’t think anyone’s does.

This was done for a High School class assignment. It hung on the wall for a while and then was returned to me. Unfortunately I didn’t make it a point to retrieve all the drawings that I did for various school projects, but some teachers were considerate enough to do it for me. Frognuts might remember what class this was for, hopefully anyway.

The Generic Man character was something that was funnier in my head than on paper, as for Yablo, I take no credit for him. No, Yablo was created for a Sprite commercial back in the late 90s. I think you can find it here.

I drew this during my time at Brooks. Here it is, the infamous “greatest achievement” drawing.

Ink drawing.

Here’s a comic from five years ago. I remember sketching out the idea in the basement of a library when I should have been studying for some college exam. Screw Calculus. I drew the completed one during a family reunion. Below you can see an incomplete version that I abandoned. Starting over at the half way point is rare for me to do, usually I just go for it and don’t look back when I begin work on the final version. Looking at it now I can see that I wasn’t happy with the placement of the telephone pole in the first panel and the splash effect in the second panel. My critical examination of this comic is funny when you think about the content.

*Post Edit*
I was digging through my drawing archives for sketches to an upcoming comic when I came across the comic sketch below. It is the sketch I did for “Dog Day” in the library basement. It has some dialog that frognuts came up with as a punch line, apparently he was there when I came up with the whole thing, but after seeing the comic without text I decided it was better that way. My choice to leave the text out was based on laziness and the fact that it felt more effective as a wordless comic. Yes, I went with a gut instinct for that decision. Plus that’s what everyone who saw it told me anyway.

This level of detail into my drawing process is not something I will make a habit of posting for every comic because very often my sketches and rough drafts are not this clean and tidy. In fact they are often cryptic because I am only jotting down things to trigger my memory later, and not something that is meant to be intrepreted by other people.
Finally, one thing I learned from this is that if you pull off a good poop comic, you’re a genius, but if you mess it up you’ll look like a fool. I’m a genius.