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My wife has a love hate relationship with this webcomic. She loves that I have something that I enjoy doing. She hates that is is a time sink of non-billable hours. Beyond that, She does not always embrace the obscure darkness that sometimes emerges with my digital wanderings. I do not censor myself. OK, that is not entirely true, I do censor somethings. But if it feels true, for whatever reason, I am less apt to yank it, just becasue it isn’t pretty.
After the great fairy butter debate. She requested a drawing that would not send my 6 year old to therapy. No half-dressed woman with an affinity for dirt and worms. No headless bipeds served for dinner.
“How about a mermaid?” I asked.
She looked at me with that “how are you going to pull that off?” stare.
So I started writing and searching for scrap. (reference material.) I had something down in words that I liked, but it started to get dark again. So I worked up a quick sketch.
What I have here is a box of problems. The look on the mermaid’s face is more akin to “yummy, appetizers!” than adoration. The man looks clueless. I found some good scrap on diving suits, but mermaids was a bit more difficult without scabbing somebody’s else’s work. I had some great underwater shots from a woman’s hair advert, that looked promising, but her body was going to cause me problems. How do you draw buoyant breasts? With as many comic books that I have read, you would think this would not be a problem. But I could tell it would be. Do I search the internet for buoyant breasts? I think not.
Also, as a PG strip, what would I cover said breasts with? Shells? I don’t think so. I was thinking of a combination of seaweed and barnacles. Which led me down a darker road again. Sort of a Davey Jones locker from Pirates of the Caribbean look. Again this was not going to a good place. Then there were issues with the tail, and mermaid anatomy, and the water that surrounds them and I said ENOUGH!
I ditched the sketch, and moved on to another idea. I just thought I would share that little adventure with you all. Not everything works. I could FORCE it to work, but that hardly seems fun.
I think that it is important to fully relay the concept driving your. Only through that unrestrained expression can true social and civil evolution occur.
I’m not sure where the impetus of the comment above comes from, or where it is going too. By default I am then placed on the side of the road, in a UV damaged lawn chair; A conversational spectator who asks, “what was that?” as the motion-streaked blur passes in front of me. I shrug my shoulders, wave to the dust on the horizon, and press the “approve” button