"ARE WE THERE YET?"

Doug's Road Trip Into His Past

When Doug the Wombat first came to the Bluff, it was as a survivor of a wild bush-fire that destroyed his home and, as far as he knew, his family.

Of course, he soon found another home at the Bluff and was accepted into the "family" of wacky characters that live there. But, over time, Doug has increasingly been wondering what his old home is like now. So, recently, he has been thinking about going back to find out.

And so begins what will be a developing story line for quite a few weeks. It will be the longest running theme I have attempted with BUSHY TALES so far and, to be honest, I am quite excited about the potential for some interesting adventures that Doug and his travelling companions will encounter along the way.

Today I share with you the strips that have been leading into this incredible journey. I will continue with the series updates over the weeks ahead. 

I hope you enjoy the journey!

Next Week.....In next week's blog I'll be answering some of your questions (you can still send your questions to bushweekblog@bushytales.com ).
Also, I'll be presenting a new page of activities for younger readers!
Don't miss it!..."BUSH WEEK" is published every Monday.
Until next week!

Joyfully yours,

Ian 

COMIC STRIP FAVOURITES

What have been some of my favourite strips over the years, and what strips have influenced me in my own cartooning career?

These are common questions for any cartoonist, I think. I certainly have been asked them many times.

Personally, I think I have a very eclectic lot of favourites. There is definitely a great diversity among those I would call my favourites over the years. And, I think, there is also a great variety in the reasons that they are my favourites. For some it might be the humour, for others, the artwork, and for others still it could be the characters or subject matter. 

I think it is fairly natural to be influenced by anything you like, so each one of my favourite strips will have, even if only subconsciously, been influential to some degree.

I am sure that not everyone would share my exact same thoughts about my comic strip favourites. But, then, cartoon appreciation is like any other form of artistic and creative endeavour....it is very subjective.

So, here is a list of my Top Twenty comic strips that I have, over many years enjoyed (with a brief explanation of why). 
They are arranged alphabetically here, not in any order of favoritism.I hope you will find some of your own favourites here, too. (Please use the comments section to add some of your own comic strip favourites.)

Following the list of strips are a number of BUSHY TALES strips that incorporated other comic strip names into the story (over 100 in one week!).

B.C. - (Johnny Hart) I have loved this strip for as long as I recall. Originally drawn (pardon the pun) to the simplicity of the artwork and the type of humour, I soon began to appreciate the fusion of modern culture into a prehistoric setting and, in later years, to the deeper and more spiritual themes and insights. As with just about every strip that is continued on beyond the death of its creator, the BC strip today is only a shadow of the strip in the hands and heart of Johnny Hart.

BROOM HILDA - (Russell Myers) - This strip got me in with its bold line and use of solid blacks...not to mention the creative characterization and humour.

CALVIN & HOBBES - (Bill Watterson) - What hasn't already been said about this strip? It was, truly, a "one-of-a-kind" comic strip. Literally, it turned the cartoon world upside down and I doubt if there is a cartoonist anywhere who has not been influenced by it.
I always found the artwork in C&H particularly impressive.

CROCK - (Rechin & Wilder) - I loved the crazy humour of this strip. One of the few strips that used to make me chuckle out loud.

FOXTROT - (Bill Amend) - This was a very refreshing take on the modern family. The characters were very well-defined and they interacted with great humour, both in word and visually. It was a favourite of my family as they grew up, too.

HAGAR - (Dick Browne)- Now drawn by his son, the strip, in my opinion, was far better in its early years as Dick Browne let his artistic genius follow his creative imagination. 

HERMAN - (Jim Unger) - A single panel (except on Sundays) this strip is hilarious! Unger could say so much in a single frame with his limitless cast of characters (Herman is not a single character...but more a state of mind, I think.) I continue to enjoy re-reading the many collections of Herman that grace my bookshelves.

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM - (Mike Peters) - This strip comes as close as any to giving an animation feel to the artwork. The characters, well-drawn as they are, are taken into an even more impressive realm when given the action treatment that Peters likes to use.

MUTTS - (Patrick McDonnell) - I haven't read as much of this strip as some of the others, but what I have read over the years I really enjoy. McDonnell has a lovely style and the strip has a wonderful whimsy about it. His Sunday strips employ great variation in the layout.

PEANUTS - (Charles Schulz) - Who has not, at some time, been drawn into the world of this legendary strip? I think it taught us all some things about communicating through cartoon characters.

PICKLES - (Brian Crane) - A more recent favourite...I don't think I have read a single Pickles strip that I thought was weak. There is great consistency in this story of an old couple. 

POGO - (Walt Kelly) - Back when the comic strips were given plenty of space cartoonists were able to produce works of great visual appeal. None more so than Walt Kelly with Pogo. His, characters were brilliant and the quality of his drawing and presentation was amazing.

SHOE - (Jeff Macnelly) - I really loved the dry, sarcastic humour of this strip, as well as the style of Macnelly's drawing. His artwork was quite reflective of his work as an award-winning  political cartoonist. 

SNAKE TALES - (Alan "Sols" Salisbury) - One of the great Australian strips. Widely published in Australia and, for a time, syndicated throughout the USA.

SPEED WALKER - (Chris Hammond) - Not a well-known strip, at least here in Australia...but I loved it! It was a very dry humoured strip about a hapless private eye. I never saw it in a newspaper and I only have the one small book collection. But I'd love to get more!

SWAMP - (Gary Clark) - A wonderfully popular and much-awarded Australian strip. Gary has produced a beautifully crafted and consistently entertaining comic strip based around the animals, reptiles and insects found in your typical Aussie swamp. 

TEN CATS - (Graham Harrop) - This strip has become one of my recent favourites. Graham, an Englishman living in Canada, has produced a beautifully drawn heartwarming and funny strip about 10 stray cats that live in a warehouse and are cared for by Annie, a young girl. I love the way Graham has developed distinct personalities for each of the ten cats. The strip was awarded the NCS Reuben Award for best webcomic in 2013. Thoroughly deserved. Graham recently sent me one of the original TEN CATS strips....a treasured item!

THE BORN LOSER - (Art Sansom) - Simple, uncluttered artwork, the appeal of this strip for me was in the humour more than the artwork. Brutus Thornapple (the born loser) finds an endless number of ways to end up losing at home, at work...anywhere and everywhere. A lot of fun.

TUMBLEWEEDS - (Tom K Ryan) - One of my all time favourites! I love the dry humour as well as the very stylized artwork on this strip. Ryan created a wonderful cast of characters to inhabit this Cowboy and Indian strip. A trailblazer in so many ways (Jim Davis, the Garfield creator was Tom Ryan's assistant for a number of years), I think I owe my love of comics to strips like this. I have a personally signed and inscribed (by Tom Ryan) copy of one of the Tumbleweeds books.....I'm not letting that one go!

ZITS - (Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman) - A wonderfully drawn and scripted strip about a high school teenager and his interactions (or not) with his family, friends and the world. A modern-day classic.

So, there you have it...my top twenty favourites.

But what about yours? I'd love to know which strips you enjoy. Use the Comments section of the blog to share your favourite comics.

And, don't forget.......

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (Q&A)

In the coming weeks I would like to do a blog full of answers to  questions from readers.
So...if you have any questions about BUSHY TALES, or cartooning in general, please send them to: bushweekblog@bushytales.com

I'd love to hear from you.

Until next week....

Joyfully yours,
Ian 

WEBSITE: www.bushytales.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BushyTalesComicStrip

The Evolution of a Comic Strip Character

The Evolution of a Comic Strip Character

DOUG the Wombat

FULL NAME: Doug Burrows
SPECIES: Wombat
AGE: Unknown
MARITAL STATUS: Single
INTERESTS: Sleeping, Eating, Drinking Coffee
SKILLS: Sleeping, Eating, Drinking Coffee
GOALS: Sleeping more, Eating more, and Drinking more Coffee

ORIGINS

The origin of Doug the Wombat actually precedes the BUSHY TALES strip. In fact, it could be said that the strip grew out of, and around, this character. Allow me to explain.....

About twenty years (or so) ago I was doing a few random sketches, one of which turned out to be a wombat that I liked. However, as I was producing another cartoon strip at the time, I did not have any time, or ideas, to develop anything from these early sketches....though I always thought that it might develop into something one day. These sketches were just drawn on loose sheets of paper and, unusually for me, I did not lose them or throw them out over the ensuing years. Perhaps, somewhere in the dim, dark recesses of my mind, I knew that I would revisit these sketches one day.

That day eventually came early in 2011 when my wife, Robyn, and I were returning home from a weekend with some good friends in rural New South Wales. Whilst driving home through the beautiful Australian countryside, I was doing a lot of thinking about various things and, during the course of the trip, the whole concept of the BUSHY TALES comic strip was birthed and started to take shape. 

Of course, the cute wombat from those sketches of years past was destined to become the central character of this new comic strip and everything just "came together". as they say, from there.
It was a very productive drive, in my opinion! 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Of course, it is one thing to come up with a character, but another thing entirely to then develop the character within the context of a comic strip and in relation to other characters.

The setting for BUSHY TALES is on The Bluff...a rocky outcrop overlooking a creek and a valley. The Bluff is the enclave home to an eclectic assortment of Aussie bush animals....but Doug was not originally one of them. I elected to have Doug enter the strip as an "outsider", a character from a distant place. As the story unfolded, it turned out that he was (to his knowledge) the only one who escaped a devastating bush fire. In his wandering he ended up at The Bluff....and he has stayed ever since, finding his place in his adopted furry family.
So much so that he is, most certainly, the central character of the strip.

Here is the very first BUSHY TALES daily strip and the introduction of Doug.....

Doug has come a long way since those early days.
His appearance has changed, or at least developed, as you can see from these few pics...                   

RECURRING THEMES:
Every character in a comic strip needs to have certain characteristics, or personality traits, that will enable readers to relate to it. After all, if readers cannot relate to a character, or a strip, why would they bother reading it?
The classic example is GARFIELD....do cats really love lasagna and hate Mondays? Of course not!
But people do. And, therefore, they relate to Garfield.

Doug, like most animal cartoon characters, is very anthropomorhic. This means that the animal (or whatever) takes on human characteristics.
So for Doug this means that he loves coffee, likes eating, can read a newspaper, watches television, writes poetry and short stories, and does other things that wombats don't normally do.
But people do! And, therefore, people see a bit of themselves in the character.

COFFEE....
Doug loves his coffee! Thankfully, for him, caffeine has no stimulant effect and, consequently does not affect his sleeping habits at all. In fact he is quite proud of how he can balance these two necessities of life!

In addition to all of this, a further development in recent times has seen Doug take on an alter-ego........

WOMBATMAN!
The creation of Wombatman in the strip has given me an opportunity of doing some crazy things and following some unusual story lines that I would not have previously been able to do. 

Wombatman is a bit of a parody, of course, and I really enjoyed the first ever Wombatman strip. It was drawn shortly after a particular Batman movie and the title worked well with Doug's love of sleeping......

WHAT'S AHEAD?....
Well, without giving too much away....Doug is going on a big trip back to his old home, destroyed by a major bushfire...with many adventures along the way!

And, in a future edition of the BUSH WEEK blog I will go through the actual process of drawing Doug, and the other characters in the strip.

Until next time....

Joyfully yours!

Ian

WEBSITE: www.bushytales.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BushyTalesComicStrip

Welcome to the new "BUSH WEEK" blog from the BUSHY TALES Comic Strip!

We (meaning myself and the great little cast of characters from my BUSHY TALES comic strip) hope that you will enjoy catching up and sharing a laugh with us every week or so.

The BUSHY TALES strip is a relatively new strip that has been developing over the past few years and, now, is starting to gain some very positive response from readers and comic fans in several countries.

If you are not already a fan of BUSHY TALES, I hope you soon will be! Over the next few weeks I'll be introducing you to the various characters and a lot of the background and behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into producing a comic strip.

Of course, we have a lot to do to get this blog sorted how we would like it (so please give us a few weeks to get organized). 

In addition, you can also catch up with all the fun and laughter of BUSHY TALES at the strip's website.... www.bushytales.com .

And you can join in the fun by "Liking" the BUSHY TALES Facebook page, too! Just go to www.facebook.com/BushyTalesComicStrip to connect with us there.

And you can receive BUSHY TALES emailed directly to you for free by subscribing at the internet's largest collection of comics. Go to: www.gocomics.com/bushy-tales

This strip is one of the early Sunday strip favourites.
It also was the inspiration for the first BUSHY TALES t-shirt design.

And, also, we'd love you to spread the love around a bit...let all your friends know about BUSHY TALES and the "BUSH WEEK" blog.

We'd be very grateful if you joined us in our grand mission....the wombatification of the world! 

I look forward to sharing my weird, wacky, whimsical wombat world with you in the blogosphere.

Joyfully yours,

Ian