Glen the Caterpillar Comics

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Category: Holidays

Glen Starts a New Business

I know, I know, all this past week there have been memes flooding the internets with adorable horned alligators. You’re probably already sick of them but you know what? Glen loves himself a good trickster god so I had to run with it. Now we get to sit back and see how long it takes before Disney sues us. *innocently whistles*

The Making of Glen

So for the past week I have been watching all sorts of tattooing videos hoping to learn enough to become a proper artist and maybe do some sort of creative endeavor that actually pays some bills. It’s interesting because it’s a completely different art form from comic design but weirdly I can still apply some of the lessons I have learned from both. For a while now I haven’t really enjoyed drawing Glen as much as I used to because I always felt I could make it somehow better – more realistic looking. And although I still want to achieve realism I realize now that I should do so when doing other projects. The beautiful thing about comics is they’re simple – they get to the point with the least amount of details possible and that’s good! So today when I drew the squirrel I didn’t give his tail individual hairs, nor did I give anyone fingers and toes on their paws because I realized I didn’t have to and it wasn’t adding anything to the piece. So for now laziness wins!

Glen Introduces the Bug World to Shakespeare

So I may have been wandering around BritBox like a lost lamb when I found something called Upstart Crow – which is apparently a very British comedy about Shakespeare’s life and it had me in stitches with it’s creative reinterpretations of the classics. This got me to wondering what Shakespeare would mean to a cheerfully stoned caterpillar. And this is what I came up with. I might be biased but I think putting Glen in a fur coat is always a great thing to do. I JUST WANT TO HUG HIM! But I’ll resist.

The Making of Glen

I made Glen SUPER late this week. It’s past 5PM on Monday and I just finished it. SIIIIGH. That being said I took the background from Glen Visit’s Popple’s Dungeon and updated it with some blurring effects to make it look less distractingly cartoonish. From there I played with brush strokes to find which one resembled fluffy fuzzy wuzzy bee hair. And then I drew a skull on the bee as Hamlet demands I do. It’s style is reminiscent of the death’s heads I find on the slate gravestones that I admire so much. It’s crude, at best, I know, but it works!

Glen Stages a Mutiny…

The past week has been total chaos so I had to get inspiration for Glen from a dream – a dream I had after about 48 hours worth of dreams trying to sleep off a migraine. It makes little sense and doesn’t have any context but damn if it isn’t adorable! To pirate Glen!!

The Making of Glen

Today I played with some new textures trying to get the teddy bear right… I don’t think I am done fiddling with this but I am getting closer so that’s all that counts.

Glen Discovers that being Wished into a Cornfield isn’t as Bad as it Sounds…

I decided to do another homage to one of my all time favorites – the original Twilight Zone and it’s insanely iconic It’s a Good Life episode where one little boy gets to wish people away for not thinking happy thoughts. Where do they go? The cornfields! I know the sting of this no longer reaches most people because most people no longer have first hand experiences with cornfields but here’s why that’s so scary- because they’re extremely disorienting. It’s just rows and rows of corn with no way out. It’s a terrifying thought, probably first implemented in old German fairy tales where magic umbrellas would fly bad little boys and girls away to the proverbial cornfield. (Doesn’t that put a whole new light on Mary Poppins!)

Still – in this classic horror scenario Glen always manages to find a way to make it adorable. And I couldn’t be more proud.

The Making of Glen

I was actually lacking in inspiration this week when this idea popped into my head yesterday. I had spent all day fighting with technology on a different matter so by the time I was ready to sit down and illustrate it I was already on the punchy side which is not a great place to start with such a complex illustration. I had to look up cornstalks in an attempt to draw them. I drew one and copied it many times over to make a field and I applied the same process to the pile of corn which I moved the corn into different angles in order to make them look like a more convincing pile. I think it came out well! And I am proud of myself for once again pushing the boundaries of what I could do – going so far as to find an appropriate brush stroke for the top of the corn stalks to make them look loaded with pollen.

Initially I drew the image in color. I thought turning it into a black and white image would be as simple as applying a filter like you do with photos. HAHAHAHA. No, when I looked up how to do this in Clip Studio Paint I got a bunch of grotesquely long multi-step tutorials which I looked at with glassy eyes before cheating. I totally uploaded the illustration to LunaPic (dot com) and applied the black and white filter. Took all of two steps and 15 seconds from upload to black and white. I regret nothing (fully realizing that if I were to be professional about this I’d totally learn the correct way which probably allows me to do this without compressing the image. Whatever, I’m not making this into a billboard so it doesn’t matter.)

Glen Fixes the Monkey’s Paw

Ah! Another week and another horror related comic! This one was inspired by a spirited discussion on The Monkey’s Paw. It all got me wondering, what would Glen do with a monkey’s paw? What would he wish for? And his very innocent (but potentially horrifically backfiring) answer had to be this! With any luck the monkey will be pleased and won’t curse his remaining wishes… but that’s up to you to decide what happens next.

The Making of Glen

So, since I was doing so well with posting a Glen every week and I am getting into other illustrations and tattoo design I thought it would be a great idea to invest in a gaming PC (which is coincidentally the same kind of PC illustrators use.) And I must say this combined with the better drawing tablet and a kneeling chair is SWEET!! LOVING the new set up! So sleek! So fast! So easy! I must be moving up in the world.

The new PC with its much larger screen has also allowed me to see the details in the things I draw so much better! I don’t know how this is going to play into my Glen comics in the future but for now it’s mesmerizing.

Glen’s Post Easter Nightmare

I was going to draw Glen being pursued by earless chocolate Easter bunnies but somehow that turned into him hatching all goo-covered out of a Cadbury egg. both scenarios are terrifying and sadly hilarious so I make no apologies.

The Making of Glen

There were A LOT of layers in this comic and it seemed like every time I forgot to make a new layer I had to pay for it by re-drawing whatever it was into a new layer after erasing the first attempt. I am slowly learning how to draw freehand better so everything on this strip was done this way – no tracing! I am content in how far I have come and where I am going. The future of my illustrations seems bright. The only thing I had difficulty with was making a basket that looked woven… which I think I failed but at least it’s basket shaped and no one is going to nit pick at this tiny detail – save for me.

Glen Plays the Devil’s Advocate for Satan’s Lonely Heart…

So last week I grew restless and tried to escape my boredom by visiting the location of a botched horse cremation. I didn’t really comprehend it was at the top of a mountain and REALLY messed myself up and spent the rest of the week recovering… which brings me to today, Monday, where I am sitting here staring at a blank screen wondering what the heck I am going to draw for this week’s Glen comic.

Finding no real inspiration I procrastinated by scrolling aimlessly through my Twitter (@TheophanesAvery) feed. For some reason it was inundated with references to Satan this morning?! I didn’t figure I had the emotional bandwidth to look into why Satanic Panic was trending so instead I just let my mind wander and BAMB! Inspiration for a Glen comic!

The Making of Glen

Today’s comic was SUPER simple although I did learn that I have completely forgotten how to draw flames… ah well, can’t keep everything in my head. The one thing I did differently was giving Glen a considerable dialogue that was in and of itself the joke. I don’t know if this will fly but at this point I’m calling it good. Maybe next week will be less stressful and allow me proper inspiration. One can always hope.

Glen Interviews a Murder Hornet…

The past couple of weeks have been absolutely horrible for me so I haven’t had the time, energy, or funny in me to draw a Glen comic on time. That’s why this one is going up a day late… and is darker than usual. As I have stated in my other blogs gallows humor is how to get through the dark times.

The Making of Glen

I am starting to experiment with the idea of multiple panels when I can’t get a concept out in one. And that more layers is always better than less. My life has been so stressful as of late I am struggling to find the time but I really wish to grow as an illustrator and maybe do a short Glen animation in the future. It’s always good to evolve as an artist.

Glen Spots a Peeping Tom…

GOOD MORNING! Or…. afternoon really. How’s my lovely audience out there? I’m sitting here waiting for a good old fashioned Nor’ Easter to blow through and bury us all in snow. In the meantime Glen is chilling, as you can see, coming out of a luxurious bath only to let us meet a new character – the peeping Tom.

The Making of Glen

Last night I spent some time setting up a new swag shop for Glen and while I was looking over old designs I was wowed at how far I have come and how much I have learned just tooling around here drawing a Glen every week. Tonight’s comic shows how far I have come with layers to draw a turkey and then an opaque window over it. It’s a simple design and yet… there’s some tricks here. I look forward to drawing more and seeing how far I can take this.

Glen Discovers the Truth Behind Frosty’s Magic Hat…

Well it’s the first Glen of the New Year! And I have been having a *super* stressful life at the moment which has sapped me of my creative juices. As such today’s comic was dreamed up at the last minute and drawn just as hastily. I’ll try to do better next time.

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