One of the tricks I’ll recommend to students who feel stuck on a jam comic exercise is to just draw something; once they’ve got an image (or a phrase, if they tackle it from the “word-first” angle) it’ll become clearer where they can take the story. Which is kinda the approach I took myself on this jam comic with the me from 20 years ago! (As tempted as I was to redraw 2004 Dale’s awkwardly drawn Emma hands, I resisted!)
I’ve been writing a fair amount lately, reminding myself how I used to pace Watusi’s ongoing adventures. It’s pretty much coming back to me, which bodes well for things to come over the next few months! Stick around…
While I’m still enjoying these done-in-one collaborations with the early years of Watusi comics, I’m planning to shake things up a bit in the new year. And this one my have even inspired the direction to go in, too…
Hope you’re having a festive holiday season! Cheers to a happy 2024!
While I usually try to avoid dream endings on these one-pagers (especially when there are other artists involved; I don’t want to invalidate their contributions), I guess dream beginnings are another matter entirely!
I’ve spent the past month reveling in the Halloween spirit: a vampire-themed art show, a monster-themed market, a Halloween comic fest, and working on spooky comics for next Halloween (instead of trying to get into the Halloween spirit in April). Hope your Halloween was all treats!
Tis the season … the season of Halloween-themed shows, at least for me! A vampire-themed art show, a monster-themed market, and a Halloween comic fest are all on tap for this month! Get all the details in my monthly newsletter!
This episode finds me jamming with one of the earliest Watusi contributors, fellow APA-5 alumnus Drew Boynton! He wrote and drew all the Doggie parts of this comic (including the dialog) before I ever saw it, leaving me to respond to and lead into each of his panels. It was a different sort of challenge, but I liked it! (Even if it took me far too long to figure out what to do!)
It’s been a while since Drew posted any new comics, but you can check out a solid run of “Doggie & Jilly” comics he posted on his website; heck, they may be all new to you!
It’s another collaboration with the me of 20 years ago! Even tho I didn’t manage to finish the story in a single page, I’m pretty happy with the drawings in this one…
This episode may be as close as I’ve ever got to the vibe of a “Mutts” strip, and as simple as it is, I’m really happy with it. For those of you with dogs who didn’t have noise-blocking earmuffs, my sympathies! Hope today is a quieter one for you all…
Revisiting another vintage starter panel this time, comic improvising with my younger self. Definitely leaning into nonsense with this one, but that’s a story option I can’t use as easily in the long stories, where I’m already asking readers for a lot of suspension of disbelief! In a way, this reminds me of my very first Watusi comic, so I’m glad I didn’t resort to collaged food elements (as I briefly considered)…
Watusi the Talking Dog 