Day: September 23, 2009

Top 3 questions I get asked about Betty Blonde

3. How did you come up with the characters?
Answer: A condensed version of this)

2. What’s the website address?
Answer: H-t-t-p colon, slash, slash, w-w-w, dot, bettyblonde, dot, com

1. How do you come up with new ideas every day?
Short Answer: I don’t.

Nearly every evening Dad and Christian and I will gather around on the couch, sometimes with a bowl of popcorn, always with paper and pencils and whatever book we may be reading aloud at the moment. Dad will read and Christian and I will ink and draw quietly. Or at least semi-quietly. Dad is interrupted several times in the midst of his declamation and asked any one of the following:

“What should I draw?”
“I don’t know how to end this!”
“Should Spike be rolling his eyes or frowning?”
“Is this too cliched/politically correct/stereotypical?”
“Should I put Big Wilma in this one?”
“Do you think this will offend anyone?”

Dad says 5 PM is the time for reading aloud. But I know it’s actually focus group time. Nearly all the comic strip storylines, punchlines, and ideas have come from this little gathering.  No matter what, we’ll always come up with something to draw.  A good example of this is yesterday’s comic strip (yes I drew it on Monday, yes I am behind, yes I need to get ahead) about all the people showing up to Betty Blonde’s pink party dressed in blue.  I was desperate to finish that storyline because I couldn’t think of anything more for it, and it seemed a little overused to me anyway. Thankfully Dad thought up a suitable finish just in time! Christian and I rounded out the idea and we decided to add some color. Now it’s one of my favorites.

So it’s not just me. I don’t think I could come up with an idea every day if it weren’t for Christian and Dad.  I have no idea how syndicated cartoonists do it.  They are supermen.

After her workout last night, Lorena got it into her head that she wanted to make some quiche.  She is fairly notorious for going by the spirit of a recipe rather than the letter.  At any rate, whatever she did, it was awesome.  We are all lobbying for her to do it again very soon with the help that it will come out as good next time as it did this time.  In the meantime, Grandpa Milo told me he and Grandma Sarah plan to come out to North Carolina to visit us in October.  Of course, that means there will be some great cooking and cooking lessons for the kids.  Of course, in November we are going to Mexico for a couple of weeks and will follow that up with the holidays, so it appears as if we are in for some VERY good eating through the end of the year.