The fish wheel is a ubiquitous and iconic sight across Alaska, and as it turns out, a sincere pain in the ass to draw with any degree of reasonable accuracy. Which begs the question why would a cartoonist be overly concerned with rendering anything with realism, which is something I mentally flog myself with while in the throes of yet another extended session trying to draw a complex panel. And after all the extended effort, when I previewed the panel to unsuspecting friends, most of them didn't get it. But I have faith that somebody out there will connect the dots and get a laugh, which is the mantra of every artist.
I even thoroughly botched the original pen + ink piece in front of students, but managed to salvage it digitally. Yet in retrospect I realized, even after investing the time in researching via reference photos and sketching out the structure beforehand for practice, I completely forgot a couple critical design aspects - namely the omission of a receptacle for the fish to get dumped into, not to mention the logistical impossibility of the scoops actually fitting into the openings on the platform. And let's not even try to think about the directional flow of the water, okay?
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