Introducing Ray…

I’m working on a story for the next issue of RELUCTANT SADIST (#10) called “Butt Soap! A Hoo & Ray Goof”. That’s the working title anyways, subject to change, etc. I want to have some contrasting characters to create some interesting interactions and conversations, so I decided to make one of them female as I find that I lean too much in the direction of always making my characters male. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but some of them have to do with the culture wars and all the heated rhetoric around who can create what and why. I’ve been hesitate to create female characters because of possible criticism of how I render that character. It seems these days that no matter what you might do, it is bound to piss off someone. After over-thinking all of it, I’ve decent to plunge forward and do my best to create an interesting, hopefully, compelling fictional character.

This is also my official “Drawing of the week” entry. I’m trying to draw in a more simple, cartoony style, which I find hard to do. If you really look closely at cartoons like Peanuts or Nancy or Popeye, they are just a bunch of abstract bits and pieces laid down in a way that suggests a person, but really, don’t look realistic at all. They also tend to point out the two dimensionality of their existence, also something that I am usually pushing against in my drawings with all the shading a perspective.

I am not sure this will be Ray’s final look or not, but I’m getting closer. Looking at her, what kind of character do you think she’ll be? I know, can hear her voice and the look in her eyes came from my Mother, which was a bit of surprise to me.

That finishes February! See you for the Ides of March!

Keep smiling!

OK HW