"Alaska Pheromones"

This particular panel is somewhat of a warm-up into this year's annual Valentine's Day offering (look for it at next week's posting). And if "you know you know" all about the odoriferous connotations behind those ubiquitous coils that serves as romantic incense, not to mention the aromatherapy of salmon strips. 

The initial doodle on a scrap of paper

It also doubled as a literal illustration into the process behind coming up with an effective composition, and I demoed out the creation of this cartoon for the benefit of a 2-Dimensional Design class I taught in the fall semester for the first time. All of the crucial elements for a successful drawing are present in this drawing. I can't think of a better example to a student than to see everything firsthand from the incubation of a dumb idea all the way to its ultimate fruition on the pages of the newspaper - and they all received a nice double-sided packet of prints documenting the evolution.

Take Two: Rearrangement in sketchbook

Regular readers of this blog will already be familiar with all of the aesthetic and graphic concerns that go on behind the scenes (see a couple of the classic "Top Posts" indexed on the right-hand side of the linkage lists like this one and also this one for more information on the process) with the arrangement of components contained within this piece, and how they all serve a purpose so as to best, most effectively and clearly communicate the concept through visual means. In other words, get it.

The penciled version

The juxtaposition of image + text allows for a handy way to break up and thus pace out the intake of information with a caption box across the top, which sets up the fine print below. Then the dogs of art, like linear perspective, texture, value and color, are all harnessed to carrying the idea across the frozen wasteland of my brain to yours, dear reader. 

Update: While reposting a link for this on another social media platform I noticed "pheromone" was misspelled in the hyperlink addy, which meant it was misspelled in the main post on the blog, which then in turn alerted me to the fact that it was also misspelled in the print version (though not in the original doodle). Proof that even with several editors in one's life you can always use more on the review committee.

The inked version before scanning + coloring