#66: Summer vibes
Hello summer lovers,
Where I am, the weather is a bit gloomy, but for many of you this is the sunniest time of the year. To say I’m envious would be an understatement.
This week, we have a couple of cartoons devoted to things you might find in summer, first up a few mosquitos discuss tactics, and then we see where a road trip goes wrong, and then goes even more wrong.
Longing for warmer days,
Chris
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Caption: “Oh, the neck is very theatrical, but anywhere will do.”
Mosquitos are EVERYWHERE.
But especially for everyone in the northern hemisphere. And getting bitten is just a way of life. They’re bloodsuckers - the vampires of the insect world. And like the vampires of the walking world, they’ve got their strategies.
So, uh, I guess don’t just cover your neck.
A little artist’s note: This is my second mosquito cartoon, but the first one I’ve released (I’m trying to sell the other). And the thing I’ve realised is: people don’t really know what a mosquito looks like up close. I guess because they’re such sneaky insects. In this instance, I’m hoping that the audience will be able to put two and two together and see that that vampires and mosquitos are actually very alike, in their own way.
Visually, there is a lot of perspective at play here. In my original sketches, I had the idea that it would be the mosquito talking to the vampire, kind of like a dinner, but then I hit a snag when I realised that the size difference would make it really difficult to show either of them clearly. Too small and you wouldn’t see the insect, too large and you wouldn’t see that it was a vampire. So, instead, I played up the perspective angle so that I could have both in the shot.
Easy, right? Successful, right?
Caption: “Before we call a mechanic, let me poke around and make the problem worse.”
It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me.
Because, although there are people out there who are fully trained to do the job, I always end up trying to do it myself first. How does this end up? Usually with me making things worse and then calling for help anyway.
Maybe you’ve had this on the highway? Or maybe this is you? Or your Dad.
A little artist’s note: Gosh, I really am this person. A glance around our house is essentially a crash course in the intricacies of something done to an okay-to-good, but seldom great, level. You know, the sort of ‘great’ a professional with years of training would achieve. I’ve never been in this situation with our car, thankfully, although I have come very close to it when I explored the fuse box to try and solve a problem that had nothing to do with the fuse box.
Visually, this cartoon brought two key realisations:
Car engine bays are really hard to draw,
You can avoid some of the details by adding a whole lot of cables.
This engine bay is loosely based on our 2011 Subaru Forester, but with plenty of embellishments that meant I didn’t have to draw every part of the engine bay in detail. It’s the little things that make the difference.
Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!
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