#67: Unexpected guests

Hello dreamers,

Cartoons come and cartoons go, but you’re lucky, because these cartoons are here to stay. Right here, in fact.

This week, we are visited by two very different guests. One an unfamiliar face in the wild west, the other a couple who took a very unexpected wrong turn.

Don’t be a stranger,
Chris

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Caption: “Well, look what rolled into town.”

This trolley is on a mission.

I mean, why else would it appear in the old west like some gunslinging stranger wanting to start a fight? What’s its plan? What’s its game? Where is it off to?

Whatever it is, those wheels look like trouble.

A little artist’s note: I’ve seen a lot of westerns over the years. There is something weird and captivating about this lawless period of the world. And in every western, it always seems like the main characters are visited by an unexpected stranger. Someone to shake things up in the single street that makes up the town. Usually, it’s an outlaw or a gunslinger. But were it the same situation today, would that gunslinger more likely be a wayward shopping trolley? It seems likely.

And you know what else? Shopping trolleys are actually quite complicated beasts to draw. They’re detailed in unexpected ways and for unexpected reasons. The bars go one way, the wheels dip down another, and the rest of the trolley, the functional part, has a lot of nooks and crannies. Whatever those are.

Anyway, lesson learned. Trolleys are complicated.

Caption: “Someone's living room. Are you happy now, Mr ‘I don't need directions’?”

Even clouds take a wrong turn.

They get lost. They fight. They get annoyed with each other. And maybe they don’t bother looking at directions. Maybe they just drift around thinking they know where they’re going. And then maybe, they end up in someone’s living room.

I’m sure you can relate.

A little artist’s note: This is a cartoon I drew all the way back in April 2024. I always liked it, and I tried to sell it, but there were no buyers. But I really felt like I could relate to the unexpected turns the clouds took.

Visually, this is similar to my current style, but it’s also different for a couple of reasons. The first is because my style has evolved, particularly around shading, quite a bit in the last few months, and this is really reflected in the contrast between this cartoon and the cartoon before it. But the second reason is because I wanted this one to feel a little more like the New Yorker cartoons of old. So with less shading and more emphasis on black lines. It’s also minimal in terms of background, but with just enough to make it all fit together. And all of this is not really a style I’ve repeated, but maybe the next one will be my chance.

Onwards and, uh, sideways.

Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!

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