Saturday, August 31, 2019

"Baked Alaska" #9-12


Duly noted: One-year anniversary of the "Baked Alaska" feature that's been appearing in each monthly issue of our own locally produced magazine "The Alaska Cannabist" (back-links to the first and second posts here).


First-up: Faithful fans will have to excuse the occasional picking of low-hanging fruit, as sometimes deadlines necessitate the reliance on some classic gag material.
(More below after the jump)



But as always the challenge and pleasure comes in rendering it my own way - working out the compositions etc. (hat-tip to ol' Lenny for the habitual off-to-the-side sketching). Besides, it's like buying a pre-rolled: it's convenient and it works in a pinch.


Also a private benefactor invested in purchasing each of the originals created for this first year of the feature - banking on the eventual immortalization of my work in the annals of Alaskan idiocy. But that's one reason you'll see an abrupt drop-off in the watercolored variations from this particular series.


Speaking of customizing cliche concepts, only in Alaska would you have the opportunity to capitalize on such a cartoon. And as a bonus, also get to annoy the crap out of some folks who are annoyed at certain linguistic turns of phrase that define contemporary conversation. I mean, I can't even...


Here's a sneak, uh, peak at the excruciating amount of behind-the-scenes research and, ah, range of meticulous detail that goes into every panel. Well, at least the part where I get to color in.


Just another example of the dizzying heights reached in this pinnacle of cartooning. Just wait until I attempt to ascend the original Athabaskan name instead.


Continuing on with this cavalcade of cannaboid cartoons, here's an entertaining twist on the issue of dealing with the hairy hordes of hungry squirrels that would no doubt enjoy an infusion of CBD in their daily foraging.


Pro-tip: Researching ideas for edibles can involve the munchies, which is a positively Ouroborean problem in scale.


Lastly I present to you what I truly believe to be one of the best all-time cartoons I've ever drawn in my entire career. As in, tshirts, signed prints and whatever else I can adorn with this panel will be the flagship item at my next show - which I hope to have in a local dispensary somewhere sooner than later.


The funny story behind this was the lengths I went to push back against it actually getting initially rejected by the editor: besides the fact that the demographic for this cartoon is likely to not be very hung up on such language, such double entendres are at the very heart of a homonym: more often than not that wordplay is what constitutes a good gag. After rolling around in some other options it was restored to its original brilliance.


Bonus: As opposed to the regular "High" setting, all of these JPEGS were saved at "Very High" resolution. Thank you, thank you - I'll see myself out.

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