Milo Comic Strip #4

Click the comic for full size.

For some reason, the old Wild Kingdom show popped into my head the other day. The phrase, "Brought to you by Mutual of Omaha..." always made me wonder what kind of place Omaha was. In my mind it was full of lions and iguanas and marmosets.

I've never been to Omaha, but Mutual of UMAha now brings you the birth of Milo. Watch along with Jim.

Back from Mexico

So I'm engaged! She said yes, and she was so surprised. I had such a hard time keeping that secret. I had the ring for over a month before I asked her. There were some moments where we'd be having a conversation and I'd be just about to say something like, "Well, don't worry about that because ... I have...a monkey...that knows just what to do with bowls like that one over there!!! NO of course I don't have an engagement ring hiding in the closet, what do you take me for????"

But I didn't. Instead I sang her a song at night on the beach, and asked her to marry me. And it was a really great moment that I'll remember forever.

And of course, while we were there we took a bunch of snaps. But someone decided to sneak his way into one of them. He's kinda fuzzy in the background, but you can see what I mean. That cloud is such a photo hog.

Every cloud has one. Just a single panel tonight. More by the end of the week. Trying to see what kind of schedule I want this to settle into. I'd like it to be twice a week. I'm just not sure which days make the most sense. Might be Tuesday and Friday, or it might eventually be Monday and Thursday. Not sure yet.

Family Portrait

First attempt at putting Eva together with Milo (and Hank, who insisted on being in the shot). I started just drawing Eva, and then decided to throw Milo in there to see how he looked. Obviously things aren't going to be this fleshed out all the time. A strip would take me forever if I did it this way. It's nice to see that for my money, she works with him. I just need to get some good practice in drawing her more simply and quicker with fewer lines. I'm also having a hard time conceptualizing how I'm going to establish that she's on a rooftop or a water tower or a radio tower in such a small space. The radio tower would probably be easiest to do in a small space, but it's a dilemma. Fewer lines, more simplicity. Well, anyhoo, here's the first attempt.

So Milo's getting another character.

pushed around by =rammkitty-stock on deviantART

So far I've got Hank the balloon, Nimbo the stormcloud, and the omnipresent threat of airplanes. Soon I'll be adding a very important character named Eva. She's going to be based on Rammkitty-stock's photo above. Every good comic strip has a way in for the reader. Sometimes that way in is the main character, like in Calvin and Hobbes, or in Charlie Brown. The everyman is your lead. But in something more fantastical like Milo, that's set in the sky, you need to have a foot (or at least a toe) on the ground, and that's going to be Eva. She's a slightly grumpy teenage girl who likes to climb her town's water-tower, and sometimes the radio tower, because she likes getting away from her family, and likes being closer to the sky.

Liberty Meadows has Brandi because Frank Cho loves to draw statuesque women with curves. I like slightly gawky nerds, so that's what you'll get from me. You'll learn a lot more about her as time goes on, but I thought I'd introduce you to the inspiration. I'd thought about adding the character from the beginning, but when I found this one image, I really had my hopes set that rammkitty would be hip to posing. She just noted me this morning that she's cool with it, so I'm going to get started on some character sheets for Eva, and trying to find ways to work her into the strip. Cheers, rammkitty, and I hope everybody has a great day.

One Week...

I'll be leaving in a week for Mexico, and I'll take some pens and pencils with me, because I'll be on the beach most of the time and probably needing something other than just a book to do. We decided to do a resort vacation because we DID the "must see everything" vacation this summer in Rome. We're thinking we could use a decompression kind of vacation where you just get out of Chicago for a week and enjoy not freezing and not doing anything you don't feel like doing. Which to mean means lots of swimming, and reading, and walking, and maybe some sketching while I'm there.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to leave the laptop at home though. I'd love to do that, and not answer email for seven days, but I have this feeling that shit will happen that needs my immediate attention if I don't bring it. Totally paranoid, not to mention narcissistic, I know. Plus, it's not like they won't have TV in the hotel, right? Maybe completely disregarding email for a week would be a great thing.

Just float like a cloud for a while.

The Snuggler!!

There used to be this place on Clark St. here in Chicago, that was in between shops in an alley, and there was a sign for it with a little man standing up in a canoe, and it was called "The Smuggler." The sign was written poorly, and in cursive, so for the longest time I thought it said, "The SNUGGLER," which was a pretty hilarous name for any kind of establishment, let alone a dive bar in an alley. I always just pictured a place where people could go in secret when they needed a snuggle for a minute. "Sheesh, Jim. I've had a really rough day, and my wife isn't gonna want to snuggle tonight. She's just out for sex. You wanna stop by the Snuggler and see if we can't get our snuggle on?" "Damn right, Leon. I could use me a good snuggle."

Anyway, that has very little to do with Milo, but the memory struck me as I was posting this picture. I was thinking of the things that clouds do, and what behavior they'd have, and this popped into my head. You always see the tallest buildings in any town surrounded by clouds on a hazy day, and sometimes even on a clear-ish day you'll see one or two clouds that are low enough to get a little snuggle in to a tall building. So Milo with the Hancock seemed like a natural way to go. I was going for a Polaroid thing here, and that strikes me as kinda sad because we're fast approaching the day when no one knows what the hell a Polaroid is anymore.

Say Lah Vee. "Laaah Veee!"

Milo Comic Strip #3

Click for full size, please, to enjoy the full effect.

Here we meet the first of I'm sure many airplanes to buzz Milo. I figured he needed a Charlie Brown vs. the football moment, and well, you see what came out. Also, just as a side note, it's now 1:05 a.m. and I'm done. Only meant to work another 20 minutes past midnight on this and go to bed, but I was on a roll, so I figured I'd just throw down with it.

Milo Comic Strip #2

This strip introduces Hank, a red balloon. Hank's last comment is a topic of discussion at our house right now, as my girlfriend thinks it's too much, that I shouldn't alienate kids by having him swear. I think it's not really an issue. It's not as if I have a daily strip in the Tribune. And anybody who's reading these needs to know that this strip is sometimes going to deal with bigger concepts and sometimes going to have humor that's a bit sharp. That's just who I am. I think on the whole, web comics are for thinking people, and not for those who would tune out because of a "dick" comment. I love my girlfriend for trying to make sure that I don't get myself in trouble, but I also think that if I ever got picked up for a gig where content was an issue, I could probably put together a Sunday Funnies kid-safe portfolio pretty easily.

If you're thinking you don't like what Hank says, just don't listen to Hank. He's kind of a "jerk" himself. See how easy that was?

Serious Bidness.

Messing around with some textures and coloring. Came up with this. Milo taking a nap after some heavy duty floating.