43. Character Sketch

Notes:

• Those are cupcakes in Puppy's eyes.
• Contrary to what you may think, Demelza named the cat Puppy. Rico was too polite to correct her.
• Cat ears are awesome.

See you Thursday!

D.Z.

42. My Bloody Valentine

Oops! I scheduled the post wrong, which is why it is here Saturday morning instead of Thursday night.

Demelza would never admit it but this is how she and Rico spent their Valentine's Day. It's hard to tell but Rico's wearing bunny slippers, and his cat Puppy is snoozing on his lap.

Back when I read the Twilight books, I thought it was interesting that Stephanie Meyer compared Edward's love for Bella as akin to Heathcliff's love for Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff's is a soul-consuming, messed up, obsessive kind of love, which definitely does seem like a vampiric thing to do. And that's why I thought this passage from Jane Eyre was appropriate.

I'm planning some one-shot posts before I start my next storyline, which is going to be . . . Daisy and Gatz's origin story!

Happy weekend

D.Z.

41. Sleeping Beauty ( and End of the Arm Saga)

Happy Valentine's Day!

40. Sketchy Sketch

Before she was Tiffanie, I planned to call her Stacie, short for Anastasia. But then I realized Stacie sounded too much like Daisy, and Daisy gets top billing no matter what.

Fun Fact: Because Tiff's so tiny, her parents call her Pinkie.

Later 'gators!

D.Z.

39. So Long, Farewell

38. Sketch Day

I got lost in webcode yesterday so I'm making today a sketch day. But fear not! By my count we have 2-3 more strips of the "Daisy loses her arm" story. Then we're on to other storylines because I have about a gajillion of them.

Happy Thursday!

D.Z.

37. Friendship Part 2

36. Chibi-Vision

And that's how Rico became a zombie.

Your art lesson for the day is about "chibi" characters. "Chibi" means "little" in Japanese and refers to the Japanese comic style of rendering your characters in small, cuter versions. Check out Harry Potter and his friends in chibi form!

(image by camlost)

See y'all next week!

D.Z.

35. Friendship

And welcome Demelza! She and Gatz have been besties since the 1990s when they met in online forums on AOL. (AOL is that service that everyone used to dial into the Internet back in the day.)

This last weekend, I read the very popular Scott Pilgrim graphic novels series. In the back of one of the volumes Bryan Lee O'Malley discusses all the steps he takes to draw one l'il comic. Likewise, Faith Erin Hicks over at Friends With Boys did a post on it recently, too. They both talk about how through trial and error they came to their current methods, but even with their present-day skill set, drawing comics takes work!

As you may have noticed, I'm using pencil now because I find it's easier to draw in details. Also, I think it's helping me learn how to draw my characters better. Today's strip took an hour and a half to sketch, draw and shade. Then I spent another 30 minutes or so cleaning it up in Photoshop. Before I even draw a strip, I try to have a dummy script written out. Then I think about how I'd like it portrayed a lot.

See you all Thursday!

D.Z.

34. Character Talk

It's a sketch day here at Daisy and Gatz because I'm still trying to nail down the design of our new character. If you've been reading since the beginning, she made a brief appearance HERE. I haven't drawn her in awhile, and the way she appears in my head isn't translating completely to paper. I have four pages of Demelza's face decorating my table just as of this morning. The above sketch is the closest I've gotten.

If you've read the cast list, then you might not be surprised to learn our be-coated character of Tuesday is Demelza, Gatz's BFF. He called her to hold his hand through this operation, and like any friend, she's come. Demelza's always been a character I planned to have in the strip, and I had planned for her to first appear here. What I didn't expect was for Tiffanie, our mad scientist, to also show up—she was a spur of the moment creation.

Anyway, like any long-term vampiric relationship, Demelza and Gatz's friendship is complicated. I plan to have a grand old time with them once Demelza cooperates and allows herself to be drawn.

But bonus! I've been sketching our characters, and because we haven't seen Daisy in awhile, I thought I'd let her have a moment.

See you next week!

D.Z.

P.S. Hi to all the Figgies from Figment who stopped by to read Daisy and Gatz. You kids are great!