Super Static Cat!

Argh, another 'real life transfers to comic strip' time.

I've been sewing a bunch of fleece hats for the local Christmas store (to sell, the long stocking caps you NEVER see around anymore).  Fleece is easy to work with, however for some reason EVERY SINGLE TIME Molly sat down next to the machine all my thread would ball up under the feed dogs, making me pull the sewing out and having to use a seam ripper to take out all the bad stitches.  

EVERY time!  I had no clue how she did this but someone suggested maybe it was a static electricity charge on her fur. It's winter and I did get a shock or two off the bathroom faucet and one light switch. My humidifier is on now so that should be taken care of.  

Whatever the reason, she's not allowed on the sewing table when I'm working there, now.  I made it into a cartoon strip -- Super Static Cat does his worst, then goes and *zaps* another cat on the ear (vive le Winter!).

Keeping My 'Mad Scientists' Active

They love their boxes.  What cat doesn't?

Well I've got my two geniuses playing around with a smaller box now, using it to potentially close something (at least they're going to try).  They have the fur, they have the sample whisker, they have a claw fragment. They needed a binding agent (we'll not discuss that one). 

They may try, but it won't work.  Gotta give them points for creativity.

When A Cat Toy Sparks A Bunch Of Strip Ideas

I've been making little cat toy witch hats and did up a few in brown with bent tops to be Harry Potter 'Sorting Hats', did up more as brown wizard hats, and then gray for Gandalf The Gray.  All for selling at various events (everyone likes low cost cat toys!).

 

Well, looking at the finished ones gave me the idea of the human in my comics tossing a few to the cats to test out, and the little guys having fun with things till they get into the inevitable argument.  The Sorting Hat made the rounds with being held over every cat's head in the strip - Slytherin and Ravenclaw being favs.  Griffendor was an 'aww nuts!' one, and Marcus got the Hufflepuff, at which point it became very apparent that he had not read the books or seen the movies.

 

The black witch hat and the Gandalf hat ended up with two of the little guys arguing whether Dumbledore or Gandalf was stronger at which point things started going downhill between them.  A wand (toilet brush) is no match for a staff (broom).  Ahh well.



Beyond The Comic -- Other Niche Markets

When I go to a craft event, or a pet expo, or any kind of event actually, I try to see what else the dealers/merchants/hucksters are doing with their work.  It used to be just T-Shirts offered with one or maybe up to three different illustrations.  Then it was carry bags.  A smattering of mugs and buttons, possibly.

Well, time moves on, and what I've seen most recently were trading cards, activity books and most recently (thank you to the recent fad) coloring books.  Those are hot items right now and have been for at least a year so far.  It may take a bit of research to find the most cost effective way to produce these, but believe me the resources are out there.

Good quality cards (trading cards, tarot cards, playing cards, game board cards) can be made at low cost by Gamecrafter.com  The quality is very good and the amount in your set, and the number of sets is determined by you not the company.  Printerstudio.com is another place to check with.

Local printers can do up coloring books on the cheap. It's up to you to decide if you want a standard paper used or a thicker paper or even card stock.  You pay by the page on those. 

Activity books can easily be printed double sided on regular paper, folded in half (a 40 page booklet is 10 actual pages of printed stuff) and a card stock (or regular paper) cover added to it.  Simple, easy, quick to run off as you need them. 

And if you have images, they can be turned into paper dolls.  Even jointed paper dolls.  Something to think about.

Fleas. Again.

Here's hoping I'm not going to jinx things up again. Every time I do a strip about a vet trip, we have an emergency vet trip with one of our cats...  Every strip I did about fleas had fleas show up at our place and we needed to treat the cats with Advantage. *sigh*

 

I've brought back 'fleas' to the comic strip.  A hoard of them descend on the house courtesy of the outdoor squirrels and the ability of fleas to get through window screen mesh.  They bounce everywhere, and the Siamese can't take it too well.  The others are fairly stoic.  It's up to three strips (3-4 panels each) and I think I have two more strips in me on the subject before I 'kill off' the infestation in the story.

A Dr. Who Search....

I'm working on a strip with several of the cats and a 'box' representing the Tardis, my issue was that I could not remember how many times 'Are You My Mummy' was spoken in that episode way back with the 9th Doctor, in WWII England, the episode with the gas masks and the dead ghost kid.  I wanted to make that a pivotal point in one of the strips with the cats. 

 

I could not find an online reference at all, no links to the actual episode either.  But a posted question over on Craig's List in the TV section had some anonymous person give me a link to the script for that episode. 

 

OMG, there was a lot more 'mummy' comments in the script than what I remembered.  Only six 'Are You My Mummy' lines, 1 Dr. Who line saying 'Mummy', and 53 'Mummy' comments separately through the script.  So 60 total times in the episode.  Wow.  No wonder that thing sticks in the mind.

Boxes And Stuff

There's been a dry spell for a while. It's not easy coming up with original content. The last thing I want to do is fall into the trap most comic artists do and either copy someone else's work or fall back into doing the same six gags over and over with minor variation.

 

But lately I've gotten a sketched out idea for my characters stealing a box of donuts off the counter top (they said 'eat me' to Marcus who said 'ok', at least he shared them with those who do eat human food), the Siamese showing the other cats some Ninja moves and the fact that her dewclaw is her Katana blade, and Marcus finding his owner's new purse has leather fringes on that he can attack and kill, necessitating the owner having to put the purse in the trunk of the car to keep it safe.  He had a death grip on that one.

 

I've got to finish the series with Marcus caught in his tight box (origami cat made a mistake) and the two small cats in their box playing Spanish Galleon in the ocean of the living room floor (yes, it has a poop deck!).

 

This stuff will be great once it's printed up in book format.  My production over the past five years has gotten me basically enough for two full books if professionally published.