Weird Valentine Stuff, Sketches and Cartoons

Feb 10, 2018

Newsletter #32

In This Issue:

Weird Valentine Stuff
Sketching
Hedger Corp Update
Top-performing Cartoon

Weird Valentine Stuff

I was planning which cartoons to post around Valentine's Day, so I did a search on my computer for the word "Valentine." Friends, I found some weird stuff. Stuff I'd forgotten about.

One was this greeting card I did a million years ago. It features Larry, this character I was obsessed with for a while. Here, we find Larry preparing for a Valentine's Day date. Note the buns I drew on him.

This is back when I was hand-lettering the cards. In case you can't read it, that part at the bottom reads: "Only later did Larry learn his 'conversation heart' candy wasn't the best source material for actual conversations."

Poor Larry.

Next we have this greeting card, featuring some odd fellows.

Miraculously, both those cards made it to shelves. Here are a few card ideas I submitted that didn't get accepted. As you'll see, they're in rough-draft form (not very colorful, etc.) I usually turn in card IDEAS in a rough format and only finalize them if they get accepted.

So here's one that didn't make the cut...

I guess diapers, death wishes and violence aren't ideal topics for Valentine's Day? I don't even remember what the inside message was. Hopefully something normal, but probably not.

Here's another one that didn't make the cut.

(Can we pause to appreciate that this would be the PERFECT card to give to someone who stole both your heart and identity?)

INSIDE:

In addition to these cards ideas, I found a bunch of pictures that involved one of my favorite Valentine's Day items ever: A box of candies called "Bittersweets" made by Despair.com. Sadly, I don't think they make them anymore. Too bad, because they were hilarious. Here's a sampling:

These candies figured heavily in a Hedger Corp story about Valentine's Day. The employees were trying to give their colleagues some nice messages, but everything got mixed up, and, well, here's some of what went on...

This isn't the end of weird Valentine stuff lurking on my computer, but how about we save some for next year? Whatever you do on the 14th this year, I hope it's nice and doesn't involve any people who are talking to you via hand puppet.

Sketching

I recently attended a seminar about cartooning, taught by illustrator Priscilla Burris. At one point in the presentation, she told everyone to get out their sketch books and draw a character, then cut it out. Without thinking, I found myself drawing this guy:

Not a joyous person. Not a calm person. A person who is seriously freaking out. That's what I instinctively draw. That probably says something about me, but I'm not sure what.

In fact, most of my characters are in various stages of freaking out. Here's a sample of things I've drawn just in the past couple weeks:

It's like my characters just realized they're in a horror movie.

Anyway, Priscilla had us cut the character out because she does this interesting thing where she creates little drawings then holds them up or props them up in pictures, so it looks like they're part of the scene. Here's an example from her Instagram page:

I know -- so cute!

I tried this at home and my picture was less cute. But since I propped my little guy up against the dog, I think he has every right to be freaked out. Good luck, dude. Hope the dog doesn't wake up.

Hedger Corp Update

The Hedger Corp saga continued this week, with Bob arriving in the office dressed as Lady Gaga. Things went downhill fast, but then uphill just as fast. Here's the story.

Top Cartoon

This past week I was traveling, so I wasn't posting as much. In fact, I really only posted a couple cartoons in the past two weeks! There was one about school parking lots, one about dog photos, and a couple more... Visit my website to catch up on anything you missed!

The cartoon that performed the best over the past two weeks was this one, about reading with kids. This is inspired by my daughter Kate when she was in first grade.

Kate would also do wacky things when she was reading, like only read in a loud Scottish accent. Or just mouth the words, so I could barely hear them. Fun times.

About My Patreon Page

Hedger Humor cartoons are supported by you! Over on my Patreon page you can learn about pledging $1 (or more) per month, AND receiving different rewards! THANK YOU to all those who already support my work. I truly appreciate it.

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