#14: Hard talks, hard work, and hard weekends

Hello wild people,

It’s time. Time for another set of cartoons.

This week reveals what I assume cats do when we’re not around, what lizards do when they’re in deep work, and what we people do with their weekends. And it’s all here, right here.

No need for a map,
Chris

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Caption: "I think my indifference has always been a cry for help."

There are all sorts of mysteries in this world — UFOs, the great beyond, crude oil prices — but perhaps none are greater than the mystery of cats.

Our beloved cat, Molly, is one of those mysteries, and every time we think we have an understanding of her motivations, every time we think we’ve got her worked out, she surprises us. Sometimes these surprises involve doing something we didn’t see coming, other times it involves a sharp scratch, many of which I am still recovering from. This cartoon supposes: maybe our feline friends are working on themselves. Maybe they’re trying to be better. Maybe they have their own neighbourhood group therapy sessions.

But probably not. The mystery continues.

A little artist’s note: Visually, this one is actually fairly simple, the difficult part was in putting the different cats in different positions, and avoiding them all looking about the same as each other. The other challenge, believe it or not, was the can opener. When I was a kid, every can needed a can opener but today, they’re all mostly ring-pulls. The result was that I had completely forgotten what the can opener actually looked like. I would like to think, however, that this tool, a tool so powerful to a cat, would also be what a cat group therapy session would use as a ‘talking stick’, so to speak.

Caption: N/A

I know, I know, dinosaurs last week, lizards this week. But once I thought about it, I just couldn’t resist it.

When I was a kid, I clearly concentrated a lot because my signature look was my tongue hanging firmly out of my mouth. Most of the time I didn’t even notice it happening, but I’m often reminded that it definitely, most certainly did. This cartoon is a glorious reminder of that.

Have you seen that tongue!

A little artist’s note: Much like the dinosaur cartoon last week, this one has sat in my in-progress pile for a while and every now and then I would return to it, change a few things, and then step away from it for a while. The lizard itself is largely unchanged from when I first drew it, but the challenge was largely trying to work out the shading for a creature with so many ins, outs, nooks, and crannies. I still look at it now and think, ‘well maybe I could change this or that’. But if I took that attitude, it might never see the light of day.

Caption: "My only plans are on Sunday night, so I’m going to spend the whole weekend being anxious about them."

I think that everyone has been guilty of this at some point. When the calendar only has one thing for the day, then the entire day revolves around it.

I faced this issue constantly when I would work nights many, many years ago. My shift would start at 5 and, while it might only take half an hour to drive there, it felt like I was preparing for it for the whole day. I feel like I’m a lot better at it now, but I still find myself, on the more quiet weekends, thinking so much about the one thing I have planned that I may as well have been doing it all weekend.

Perhaps you can relate?

A little artist’s note: Everything has a quirk, and this cartoon is no exception. There were two challenges here: the first was drawing someone laying on their side, which was more complicated than it sounds; the second was drawing the couch itself. The issue is always that, while the couch itself is really a bit-player in the cartoon, as in it doesn’t really add anything to the joke, but if the couch doesn’t feel believable, then everything around it won’t feel believable either. So, the challenge is to get the little things right, so that people will see the scene, but then politely ignore it. Also, an honourable mention goes to the couple’s matching socks, for no other reason other than I wanted to draw the patches.

Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!

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