Glen the Caterpillar Comics

Theme by Anders Norén

Author: Theophanes Avery

Theophanes Avery is a hapless wanderer, avid writer, artist, adventurer, joyfully androgynous being, and all around lover of life. They are the author of their debut book Honoring Echo as well as the writer of numerous blogs on many subjects.

Glen Interviews Bigfoot

I spent this week jokingly tracking Bigfoot so I figured hey why not let Glen go the rest of the way and snag an interview with the mysterious beastie.

The Making of Glen

I admit I was a day off this week, thought today was Thurseday, and then decided it was better to do a quickie Glen than wait until tomorrow…

It’s a simple enough pane but I did do something new – I learned how to pixilate an image in Clip Studio! Filter>Effect>Mosiac. Very cool. I will likely use this again at some point. It seems fun to use for innuendo.

Glen Meets a Newt

“Eye of newt, and toe of frog. For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble!” Clearly I have been reading too much Shakespeare as of late. Mix that with a walloping dose of insomnia and I think my brain is pretty well melted. Good thing that really works for me… and Glen of course.

The Making of Glen

It has come to my attention that my art, writing, and yes, even these comics, can be a little intimidating to some because of their complexity and layering of many puns on top of each other. So I have decided to bring it down a little, go back to the basics and make it super simple. Maybe then Glen will be an easier sell because as it stands right now his only diehard fans are all people who know me personally and already love me for my weird brain. That’s really sweet and I’m not ungrateful buuuut I would also love for him to be a little more approachable to the outside world.

Glen Learns the Secret Life of Bees

I actually had fun with today’s Glen! It came out pretty nice! And I think it captured an idea well. Good job me!

The Making of Glen

Inspiration for today’s comic came in the form of my constantly wandering mind. Basically I read someone was watching The Secret Life of Bees and I couldn’t help but wonder what are bees keeping secret?! And then it occurred to me, their fuzzy black and yellow stripes are just coats!

Other than that I didn’t do anything crazy new in drawing this except I created a new layer to add watercolor painted wings that looked translucent. The rest was straight up Old School Drawing. I know, how does anyone do that anymore??

Glen Meets the Free Hugs Committee…

Well it’s May Day. This either means the day where old people reminisce about handing out baskets and kisses ooooooor it’s what you call when your plane is hurtling toward a rough and unexpected landing. Maybe there’s some middle ground here? Wonder if Glen could achieve this feat. Why yes, yes he can!

The Making of Glen

I was lacking in inspiration this week and came up with this idea only after procrastinating BADLY. I consulted my muse asking what would be a terrible thing to hug and they said a porcupine. Seriously?! Now I have to figure out how to draw a porcupine! Even though it’s an old idea I still think it came out cute.

I did a lot of new things with this comic… for one I drew a porcupine which I decided should look like an exploding fuzz ball. I used the fingertip blur tool to achieve this and learned the more violently you draw each line the farther it’ll go! I also enjoyed learning how to draw a snake entwined in a tree branch which is harder than it sounds. I was lazy with his scales though using the spray paint tool. And I was challenged in how to draw a face hugger and an amoeba… but I think I got it! Actually the longest time I spent on making this comic was drawing the bubble letters. I have been obsessed with bubble letters since grade school and always wanted to know how to draw them. I don’t feel as if I’m great at this yet but I’m getting there!

Glen Creates his own Rules of Robotics…

This week I actually drew Glen a day early! And then forgot to post it until now. I can’t be too organized you know. That might makes something implode. As usual my inspiration was…. chaotic… but I hope it worked out. Enjoy!

The Making of Glen…

I admit I put more effort into this panel than I have been lately but with that being said I think it’s a bit… busy….

I had a bunch of images in my head and I tried to make one panel of it. I experimented with the opacity of the watercolor brush (which gave a cool day glow effect) and handwrote all the wording. I used to feel this makes it look unprofessional but lately… I don’t know, I just like the individual feel of a handwritten comic. As long as it’s legible who cares if every e looks the same?!

I also tried out the ide of not separating the individual scenes into their own boxes… I am honestly not sure how I feel about the outcome. All this and I did very little new in the area of drawing and the robots look intensely crude but hey, it’s not that bad for a first attempt at drawing one I don’t think.

Glen Solves the Mystery of the Mateless Socks…

So how is everyone doing in their “self-imposed quarantine”? I’m doing well, so is Glen as I force him to carry his own weight in domestic chores. Little was I to know that he was going to find all my missing socks! Good little caterpillar!

The Making of Glen

Today attempted to draw a sphynx cat freehand… that came out looking so bad I am not even going to share it here. I deleted it and am pretending it never happened. After that I found an appropriate cat to trace in the perfect pose. I admit he looks slightly evil but… you know… hairless cats and all…

I had fun making a swirly vortex with the blur tool. And I did freehand draw the bubble lettering. I used about five layer to create the sock pile. Annnnd I’m not happy with it because the sock outlines are way too thick in comparison with the cat but after spending an hour and a half on it I didn’t want to start over. Lessons for next time!

Glen Stumbles onto Some Old Photos…

I have been so scatterbrained lately I totally forgot to draw a Glen last Friday AND almost did the same thing today! Quarantine is turning my brain into mush… but it has allowed me to do some Spring Cleaning where I found these old gems from Glen’s adolescent years…

The Making of Glen

I had an image in my head of Glen on one of those horrible laser light background school photos and I had to draw it out… So I had to source the laser background, research what headgear looked like in the late 80’s and then work my way forward from there ending this little teenage saga with a walloping dose of Lisa Frank. Glen insisted on the Hanson Brother’s T-shirt. I had no say in this. All and all I found this hilarious.

Glen Discusses the Danger of Muppet Mange

Glen is back this week for a three part public announcement given in true 80’s style.

*No Muppets were harmed in the making of this strip. All we fine after being fed a course of Ivermectin.

The Making of Glen

This week ended a long drought of inspiration for me with the added magical element of a muse. Initially I had drawn just the middle panel with the Muppets as a joke to a very Muppet-loving friend. This then spiraled out of control as I needed to build a story around it. I once again realized that life as an artist is MUCH easier when you have a muse to get the creative juices flowing. Muses don’t usually give direct inspiration, no one was asking me, “Hey can you draw me a mange-addled Muppet?” but just by having conversations and being around they can inspire me to come up with my own storylines.

I also did a number of new things when it came to drawing this comic. In the first panel I used a premade backdrop which came out rather sweet. In the second I played a lot with positioning. In the third I learned how to slant a graphic I drew (the And Now You Know star) on a straight horizontal. All and all I am very happy with how it all came out. I feel like this week progressed my illustrating chops.

Glen Makes a New Friend in Quarantine…

Well… since the entire nation has put itself in quarantine there’s really no way to escape the 24 hour news cycle about this new pandemic… which is what brought me to today’s comic with Glen and a secret admirer who happens to be a plague doctor… Hey, if I can’t ignore it I’ll make a little light of it!

The Making of Glen

Lately I have been so busy I haven’t had much time for Glen so he’s been very simplistic. Today I learned how to draw a rose (badly) and a plague doctor. I reused an old background. Now all that is left is to see how sensitive my readership is… will this offend or make people laugh. I do not know.

Glen Finds the Original Owner of his Lucky Rabbit’s Foot…

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!! Since it is such an odd day and one where the masses seem to be in full panic mode I decided to add a little levity to the situation. A little…morbid….levity. Offensive? Perhaps a touch. Just be glad I didn’t make a comic about our current toilet paper shortage. Ah, America…. you are psychotic.

The Making of Glen

I admit this comic is partially based on a nightmare I had as a small child about the owner of my lucky rabbit’s foot floating through the window trying to claim it’s foot back. SIGH.

With that cleared out of the way I would like to say I am growing my confidence in the drawing part of drawing comics. These characters are very old school and lovable. And the Depressed Teddy got a few aesthetic changes – for one I gave him proper eyes. And I also made him a bit chubbier… it happens. Glen was once thin too. I guess I feed them well.

I also used an old background – amended to have a floor. But I guess the biggest thing I am proud about today is my increasing skill in using the facial expressions of my character to portray the correct mood. This has been a struggle up until now! Mostly because I’m facial blind and read human expressions poorly even in real life. Weirdly drawing cartoons has helped me in identifying these subtle nonverbal cues.

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