"Alpha Dog" (Demo)

"When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point." - Barack Obama

Following local hero Lance Mackey's fourth straight win of the Iditarod sled dog race (also winning the Yukon Quest four years - twice back-to-back with Iditarod wins), you gotta wonder what goes on behind-the-scenes after all the crowds and cameras are gone. It's also an homage to the ginned-up controversy surrounding Mackey's legitimate usage of medical marijuana and this year's first-time imposition of drug-testing Iditarod racers.

Have to admit the subtle inclusion of the joint in the lead-dog's mouth was an act of subterfuge: occasionally sneaking stuff in to amuse myself is fun, not that anyone ever notices or really cares. And actually not a single editor noticed anyways, until it was pointed out - and clarified that it was a hand-rolled American Spirit. As you can see in the preliminary doodles below I did have to judiciously censor the verbage so as to make it a bit more palatable to the editors.

As with the other demo panel, I picked this one so students have the opportunity to see firsthand the changes that occur while reworking a composition. Working these problems out well in advance of any nib hitting the Bristol board is prudent even if a bit more time-consuming than a lot of cartoonists bother with. This particular one also illustrated how linear perspective works to create the illusion of an interior space based on incorporating our previous in-class exercises and critiques.

"I used to smoke marijuana. But I'll tell you something: I would only smoke it in the late evening. Oh, occasionally the early evening, but usually the late evening - or the mid-evening. Just the early evening, mid-evening and late evening. Occasionally, early afternoon, early mid-afternoon, or perhaps the late-mid-afternoon. Oh, sometimes the early-mid-late-early morning. . . . ...But never at dusk." - Steve Martin