Glen the Caterpillar Comics

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Glen Adopts a Series of Terrifying Napping Positions…

Last week I had a screaming migraine which resulted in me staying home instead of spending time with my muse. I fear this week’s Glen comic has suffered from this lack of creative inspiration. With that being said this is a shout out to everyone out there who has a pet that thinks it’s hilarious to sleep with their eyes open in the most death-like position they can muster.

The Making of Glen

Despite the migraine I have managed to accomplish a lot as an artist in the past couple weeks and this is starting to drift into my Glen comics. For instance I have discovered brush strokes – which is what I used to make the background.

In other news I am excited to share the fact I am studying tattooing in the hopes of maybe finding an employable use for my various artistic skills. God knows Glen isn’t breaking the bank with his little shop. Despite blasting his adorable face all over FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for almost two years he is almost up to one visitor a day on this website. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

And so I have started playing with creating tattoo designs and stabbing them into leather. Even better yet I got this awesome little transfer copier and look! Here are some of my designs ready to apply in mere seconds!!

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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 Dinner is Stolen by Fluted Mushooms

This week’s Glen has been brought to you by a Julia Child cookbook and a tale of culinary school horror. To think until last week I had no idea what a fluted mushroom was. This explains why in Glen’s world fluted mushrooms are musical…

The Making of Glen

For the first time in a long time this week’s comic came to me long before I had to draw it. I still wasn’t sure how to draw an anthropomorphized mushroom but I think I did somewhat OK. And I admit I did not spend a lot of time on the flutes… but I didn’t think it really mattered. It was really just the idea I was trying to get across.

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 Learns Why the Itsy Bitsy Spider Went up the Water Spout

After a surprise week off I am back and so is Glen! Up to his usual chatting with the other bugs in his world, this time it’s the Itsy Bitsy Spider who seems a bit banged up…

The Making of Glen

As of late I have been really getting into the illustration but most of it has been creating designs to use as tattoos on leather scraps I have. I just want to see if I can grow my talents and make this little doodling hobby of mine actually useful in some way. As much as I love Glen he’s… a poor fundraiser. To date no one has ever bought anything from his shop or thrown me a few bucks for making them smile. It just doesn’t happen.

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 gets Trapped Back in Time…

This week I decided to rely heavily on nostalgia and draw Glen in an old video game like we used to play in the 80’s. I remember them well… We had a Nintendo at the time with those big clunky cartridges, I think three or so which we owned, always having to blow the dust out of them so they might work. There’s just something about the aesthetics of these classics and the weird beep music that gives us all pretty vivid memories. Even though I have been drawing Glen for a long time he’s still not quite that old so I had to send him back in time a bit… and well… time travel is a tricky business.

The Making of Glen

Going Old School to make pixel art was a blast. It really reminded me of the days I started drawing Glen in classic Microsoft Paint. I wasn’t very meticulous about it though. I know I could have been, coloring in every pixel one at a time… If I had the energy or time for that I would have happily done so but these days I’m short on both so I cheated a little bit. I shrunk the canvas size so I cold make a grid of single pixels and proceeded to draw almost normally and use the fill-in tool instead of coloring each individually. And then so you could see it at a decent size I enlarged the whole image. I think it’s halfway decent considering. I also hand drew all the lettering which was… oddly difficult but it gives it that Old School feel I can’t get enough of.

Glen Infiltrates the Notorious Trash Panda Gang…

These past couple weeks have been especially rough and I have not been doing good. That’s why I ended up waiting until Monday to draw this comic and was at a loss as to what I should be drawing… hence the lack of a punchline… but hey! It’s cute! And done!

The Making of Glen

You know how hard it is to draw a trash panda? Apparently not very. They’re basically big furry blobs. I did however learn that I could achieve a better hair effect by scribbling both ways with the finger blur tool. before I was going in one direction and using a different stroke for each hair! TIME CONSUMING. Glad I found this delightful hack.

Glen Visits the Local Library…

Happy Monday everyone! I hope Sunday’s Valentine’s celebrations have found you well – even all you beautiful single people out there (both willful and not.) I know with the ongoing pandemic we’re all a bit… shut in. So why not daydream about the summer reading programs most libraries host for small children? And have a bit of ice cream while we’re at it!

The Making of Glen

Big news! I have decided to invest in Glen a bit and have upgraded my Wacom tablet with a Gaomon tablet that has a screen. To anyone who doesn’t illustrate things on the computer this doesn’t sound like much but it’s a HUGE improvement. I no longer am experiencing lag when I draw and it’s made the whole process all the smoother and more intuitive. I am excited to see what I can do with this. As you can see by today’s comic I already accidentally learned how to give Glen and his friends a healthy glow. Now let’s see what other trouble I can get into!

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