Barrel Scrapings

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Those Were the Days

This comic came out of another I was working on; I had the panel with the fetus dreaming of fertilization, and thought it would make a better comic about nostalgia than what I was originally doing. I used a similar technique as Let’s Go Fly A Kite for the fetus (with the airbrush tool rather than the alcohol marker). Although it’s a very time consuming process, I thought the technique would give a womblike feeling.

Wild Goose Chase

I don’t know what made me think of this, but had the idea yesterday. Here is the original concept sketch: Time lapse: The geese were based off a photo taken by Steve McCormick; the penguin based off a photo by Wolfgang Kaehler.

What Price Would You Sell For

I got the idea for this one from an unsolicited real estate flier, exhorting me to sell my place. I thought the phrase “What price would you sell for?” was very evocative. That combined with the somewhat smarmy look of the real estate agent made me think of the devil trying to drum up business. I had a fun time finding examples in literature of people who supposedly sold their soul to the devil.

The Common Raven

I heard someone mention a bird being a “Common Raven” and immediately connected it to video game loot, where things are common, rare, legendary, etc. I thought about doing a comic based on that. Ultimately I switched gears a bit and decided to just base it on the raven’s reaction. Original sketch: Time lapse: Raven drawing is based on Lindsay Wildlife Experience’s photo.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Hopefully you’ve seen Mary Poppins or this won’t make all that much sense to you. But fear not, YouTube has every clip known to man: . I experimented with a new approach this time, using digital watercolor brushes for the background and alcohol marker brushes for the foreground. I wanted a bit of a looser style, allowing colors to escape the frame at some points, and even letting the characters leave the frame.

Mutually Assured Affection

This is a departure in many ways. I have done watercolor off and on for years before starting any sort of comics. I wanted a change of pace from the standard digital workflow. This started with the concept that was more traditionally ‘comic’ - I have been wanting to try some new things and challenges such as using fewer / no words. After I started prototyping the project, I decided not to add the thought bubbles - I think it stands on its own without the explicit indication of what the owner is thinking, and becomes more universal.

When Social Media Influencers Get Married

A lot of weddings I’ve been to have a designated hashtag to collect pictures or posts. Given I’ve been dipping my toes into social media to post these comics, I thought it would be pretty absurd to apply the same level of hashtags that a lot of social media posts have to a wedding context. Of course, I’m now a hypocrite because now I also post a large number of hashtags.

Tyrannosaurus Rx

I got the inspiration for this comic from the New York Times crossword, where a clue (or solution) said “Tyrannosaurus Rx”. Eventually I hit on this idea. Here is a compressed time lapse of the creation of this comic:

Dutch Tilting at Windmills

A “Dutch tilt” or “Dutch angle” is a film technique that involves rotating the camera so that the horizon line isn’t level. (Kudos to my brother Nathan for telling me about it). The following video uses a scene from Mission: Impossible to illustrate why and how it’s used: I am still learning the “Comic Draw” app, which I really like, but whose screen recording functionality is much flakier than Procreate.

Fun With Perspective

Here is the original sketch I did in Procreate:

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© Nicholas Dunn 2021