Me happy. Kids not so much ...

As much as I enjoy making comics, it's quick character studies like these that give me immense joy. Bold, smooth and sometimes choppy lines made by my quill pen as I ink. There is a purity in these little sketches that I can't seem to find when I work on a panel. Since I don't have a lot of time in the evenings, it's nice to just cut loose and not care. This, by the way, was done after spending over two hours on the latest panel in Flex Fantastic 2.

My oldest daughter picked up a copy of Flex the other day and I wouldn't let her read it. It's not appropriate for a seven year old and I feel ...well, I feel kind of bad about it. I'm making comics that neither of my daughters are allowed to read (sorry, kids). So I created Rikki Rocket (pictured above), which I hope will be an all-ages comic that my kids can pick up and enjoy. I'm planning on doing one page explaining how she gets her powers. Should be fun. And I will most definitely approach the comic with same reckless abandon as I did in these drawings. I will post the page when it's finished. Which could take some time ... five weeks until my wife gives birth to our third child – another girl! I don't expect to get too much done after that.

- Jeff Tuffenstuff

More from behind the rock ...

I broke one of my own rules. Remember when I boldly stated I would stick to only a few patterns when I would render textures a few posts ago? Well I didn't. I am constantly trying to match Chew's brush strokes and pen marks ... and I have to admit that I'm not good at it. From now on if Matt inks a rock, I will have to draw and ink my own rock. Because the marks he puts down on paper is just bananas. Don't get me wrong - I like bananas. Bananas are sweet and soft and ...

I don't like where that was going. Anyway, I'm going to stick to my three pattern rule and see how it pans out. I just gotta be me. And if it's ink mush I'm good at then so be it. Don't judge me.

As far as this panel goes ... I really liked the idea of a small group of angry fish warriors being represented with just a few harpoon points. That way, I didn't have to change the POV of the pirates but I was able to put them into a very sticky situation.

Chew and I discussed this over lunch today ... we are most likely not going to post the entire issue of Flex Fantastic 2 here on the blog. Instead, we will start to post a few other projects we have (or haven't) been working on. Chew will post the last Flex Panel (for a while, at least) in his next post. And then he'll post some other stuff. And the I'll post some stuff. And then he'll post some ... you get the idea.

- Jeff Tuffenstuff