Normal Rules #2: Good Luck!
idRussell Cartoons Weekly, No.2
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Behind the screen
This cartoon is about that ominous feeling you get when someone says ‘good luck!’, just when you think you’re really going to need it. This scenario could be an interview, sales pitch, or some other kind of meeting or event, but you get the idea.
The big question when planning this cartoon was, ‘who’s normal here?’. If the visitor is feeling out of place, should I make him the alien? In the end, I chose the reverse, because it puts the reader in his shoes and makes it funnier, I think. If you identify with the three-eyed, tentacled receptionist, then I guess that’s normal for you. Take me to your leader!
I spent way too much time playing about with the sketch and colouring tools on Procreate this week, and not enough time on the drawing itself. If I had been working on paper, I don’t think I would have been happy with the result, but I’m new to the digital medium, and sometimes you’ve just got to put it out there.
For the record, the alien receptionist is not based on my wife, despite a joke I made to her to the contrary (from which I’ve been back-pedalling ever since). I had a lot of fun drawing the aliens, so you’ll probably see her them again soon.
In the pipeline
I’m about to start collating ideas for my new comic project. This will include initial story lines, characters and style. Still some way off a first page, but the more time I spend developing the concept, the better the final result (I hope).
I seem to have compiled a good list of ideas for the Normal Rules series, but I’m also keen to develop another one-panel series of ‘reflective’ cartoons and aim to post the first of these in Feb-23.
Many thanks to all my initial subscribers and a big welcome to those who joined this week. As always, it would be great to get your feedback, so please leave a comment, and feel free to share if you think someone might like my work.
Hasta pronto,
Iain
Ps. The Twitter link in last week’s email was broken, sorry about that. Now fixed, if you want to follow: @idRussell