Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

The FurBabies characters are one year old today.

On December 16, 2022, I started sketching ideas for a comic strip about a little girl who talks to a ‘pet’ family of dogs and cats.

Most of the early sketches of Kate did not suit at all. Then, on December 24, I suddenly ‘saw’ her, and Stella and Shawm and Sirius of the Dog Family. All of them were sketched in action poses. A lineup was created on December 25 and modified on December 29.

Floof was harder to do. I finally decided to use a kittenized version of a design created for a never-finished film called OLD TRICKS. The adult cat from that film was named Fuzz. There is another cartoon cat with that name; so Floof (my nickname for enormous furry Louie Bear the cat) was my second choice. It is a much better one.

The first FurBabies comic strip was drawn on January 3, 2023, and is the actual Strip Number 1 on the GoComics site. I’ve not stopped since (except for a few weeks’ vacation; I work about a month ahead of publication so I had some ‘slack’)

The comic was picked up by Andrews McMeel Universal on its first submission. I visited them in Kansas City in April to learn the ropes, and the first strip appeared on their gocomics site on June 5, 2023.

I would like to thank my readers and followers who now number over 1,100. Not bad for something I never thought of doing, and didn’t know how to do, and had to hit the ground running while doing it. While there is a family resemblance between storyboarding for animation and drawing for comics, it’s very slight. Writing comes first in the comic strip world, and in animation, it is secondary to the visuals.

I use a musical metaphor because that is my original training. In animation, you are a member of a symphony orchestra. Everyone plays a specific part that, when combined, add up to something greater than the sum of its parts.

Comic strip artists are jazz soloists. We do it all (sometimes with a partner; mostly, alone.) Now, we do it mostly online, since papers are folding or restricting the number of comics that they print. It took some readjusting to live in this new medium. but it’s an exhilirating thing to meet other cartoonists who are also adjusting to this strange new world where early 20th century comics are available through the latest technology.

Comics are the only cartoon art venue where everything is still hand drawn. AI won’t replace the cartoonists (it cannot write good jokes) and there is no CGI. Some strips use clip art but still are assembled by hand.

I have some surprises in the new year. Two strong new characters enter in February, and Kate takes up a new hobby (helped by the new characters.) I like them, they amuse me and hopefully will amuse the readers.

Merry Christmas and to all, a good read.