How's He Going to Smash it if They're Riding On It?

Christmas Countdown: 24 days

Panel 1 was drawn with my substitute pen. The best thing about it is that you can't even tell the difference.

Looks Like...This Is The End...For Skateboard Racetrack, That Is

From now on (I mean after this post until Christmas), I'm going to include a "Christmas Countdown" above the strip so all of you can keep track and do your Christmas shopping before the suspense kills you. (Or...not.)

I like the face I drew on the Finish Line in the last panel. Gives it just a few more seconds to...ahem..."live." Sometimes adding faces to inanimate objects adds some more humor to the strip. I was also going to draw a face on the hammer too, but I changed my mind after I drew it, so I whited it out. The face wasn't originally in my sketch for this strip.

No, It Was MY Line!

That doesn't really look like a hammer to me. Notice that I haven't been drawing Thidwick's blanket for a little while. I wonder why? Do you think Thidwick knows about this? Maybe it's in his pocket. What do YOU think?

Already?

"Automatic Stick Translation"

Panel 3: Bye! I'll try to write soon!

The picture of Sir Nerm in panel 3 wasn't originally in my sketch. Neither was Thidwick raising his foot to get a head start in front of Moe in panel 2. But by Saturday, Moe will scoot up in front of Thidwick and stay there. Amazing the mistakes in your strip that you (at first) don't recognize.

You Said That Yesterday

"Automatic Stick Translation"

Panel 1: Looking good, Moe.
Panel 2: Um...
Panel 3: I got rid of my leaf!

It's easy to write it down wrong, but it's not easy to say it wrong this way, because it will usually end up sounding the same. I just write them like this to make it seem like he's saying it wrong. The only word he actually says wrong is the word good: "gud."

Return of the Stick III, Part II

"Automatic Stick Translation"

Panel 1: How's this one, sir?
Panel 2: You said it.
Panel 3: Hey!
Panel 4: I gave it up, Thidwick.
Panel 5: It's true!
Panel 6: Great!
Panel 7: Another word to add to my vocabulary.

Note the repositioning of Moe's eyes in the logo box. Merlin's "GRRRRRRR..." in panel 7 wasn't originally in my sketch.

Return of the Stick III

Apparently, the pig isn't a very good-tempered one. He's usually mad in most strips, with the exception of this one. The character that's saying, "The picture's kind of fuzzy" wasn't originally in my sketch. I put him in to further populate Nermia beyond Nerm, the dog*, the pig, and the stick, who you can see in the last panel, bottom center. It's only a month until Christmas now! I've already got most of the Christmas story planned out. It will start the day after the Nermia story ends (December 17).

*The original text was, "...beyond the dog, Nerm,...". I switched their positions because Nerm is the president. He should be listed first. Did you know that's actually a law in Nermia? Yup, in a list with Nerm's name in it, which usually says "President Nerm, a.k.a. Sir," he should be listed first.

You Call THOSE Smiles?

Bob is doing those rabbit ears thing on Merlin now!

If You Look For It, You'll See a Teeny Bit of Silliness in That Photo

The original dialogue for the first panel was, "ENOUGH SILLINESS!!" I changed it to "silly" because I found out there wasn't enough room for "silliness." And where's Thidwick's blanket?

Happy Thanksgiving!! If the bed monster had any idea of what you do on Thanksgiving, he would eat tons and tons of turkey and pumpkin pie until he weighed as much as four Tyrannosauruses.

Crazy Photos

Yahoo! This is the day I got my new pen. So I've had it for about a week now. The marks made by the nose and hands were done with my black colored pencil. I used it lightly, so the color turned out grayish. I like Moe's eyes. They were originally going to be like the eyes of Moe in panels 7 and 8 in this strip, but I thought about making it funnier (something I do a lot), so I exaggerated it into this.

Are You Really Gonna Put THAT Into Your History Books?

Okay, just to make something clear...the pig is going to be taking all these pictures. I like the little heart I put in the words "I <3 substitute pens!" (You're going to have to look at the <3 sideways.) I also like the stretching of Bob's arm to do those "rabbit ears" on Thidwick. (Merlin and Bob just love to do that.)

That's Not Very Nice, You Know, Mr. Nerm!

In this strip, this is still my substitute pen. Today I was playing with what I should do at the end of the Nermia story. As far as I know, it's complete, but I'm not sure if I'll stick with the ending I've roughed out yet. I reviewed the other strips of the Nermia story, and it seemed pretty logical, so I'll probably stick to the second version of the end. Today's Nermia story marks Part IV, the final section of the Nermia story. Need a review? Here's when the parts start and end:

Part I: 9-4-06 through 9-30-06
Part II: 10-1-06 through 10-25-06
Part III: 10-26-06 through 11-19-06
Part IV: 11-20-06 through 12-16-06

I've decided to end it on the 16th of December since I started drawing it. I'm ending it on the 16th so I can have the story a novel, and still have enough Christmas strips for the year.

The Substitute Pen's First Appearance!

Those three colors of the word "MOE" are actually our favorite colors. When I said "ours," I meant Moe's and mine. The color of the pig is the same color as my old piggy bank. I was originally going to have the background color of the picture the same color as the background of that panel, but since it was taken in the panel with this color in the background, I decided to have that background color in the photo for consistency. Most of the smoke and Thidwick's blanket in the last panel were drawn with my substitute pen. Now I've got my new pen.

Why Is It Getting Light?

I forgot Nerm's stripes and whiskers in the last panel. Why do you think it's getting light already? Comment and tell me your choice:

A. because I didn't want to waste so much black ink from my Sharpie permanent marker
B. because the Nermians can darken the daytime sky by themselves, even if it isn't night yet
C. because the Nermians are so close to the North Pole, their night is only as long as a fireworks display
D. all of the above
E. none of the above

The Fireworks Continue

Hmmmm...maybe that's really the tooth fairy going up to that giant tooth in the sky! Nerm's sentence in the middle panel ("Nermian fireworks can be shaped into different objects in explosions") is like, full of questions! For instance, "I wonder how?" "Are they really called explosions?" "Nermian?" "Is shaped the right word in this sentence?" Comment on today's post and see if you can think of any more!

Plink, Plink! I Like That Sound!

I was originally going to have the "pow" in the second panel, since light travels faster than sound, but I changed it, for some reason.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...BOOM!

I had to think a little bit to get the lines getting smaller with the "EEEEEE" in panel 3 right. Finally, I started off with just using my Precise V5 Rolling Ball pen (the two of those pens I have are both out of ink currently, not in this strip though, so I'm using a substitute pen that's a teeny bit thicker).I could draw one of them near the middle a bit thicker. Then I could draw another one like that, only even thicker. Then I could draw the last two normal with that pen, and then trace over them with my big fat Sharpie Permanent marker.

I Have an Announcement to Make...

The Nermia story sketches are now complete! And, now, I have an announcement to make...

Each year on the December 31st post (unless it's a Sunday, then it's the January 1st post), I am going to put a picture of Moe with a crystal ball on my blog, and it will be called "Moe Predicts." It will be Moe "predicting" what will happen in some of the strips in the following year. Be on the lookout on the New Year!

So THAT'S What Kind of Animal He Is!

I like Nerm's line, "Please call me 'sir.'" TOTALLY not Peppermint Patty in some of the first strips! By the way, to get a good likeness of a tiger, I went to Google and did an image search for "tiger." This is the picture that I found perfect to use. First I sketched out the entire tiger visible, then I sketched a few more pictures of the tiger in some of President Nerm's poses. When I drew his image in a strip, I had to take a look at my sketches to get the picture right. Now I can draw it totally from memory, although I keep forgetting the whiskers. And, of course, I love drawing his bushy eyebrows.

The Tooth Fairy Wins the Elimination Award (Forever!)

I added more black to the "smoke" again, like I did in this strip. That can only be done in the Sunday strips, adding more black to the "smoke." I like the conversation that President Nerm and Merlin are talking about in panel 6. How can Mr. Nerm hear Merlin if he's just thinking words? And is something wrong with Nerm's hand in panel 5?...