gallows humor – Glen the Caterpillar Comics

Tag: gallows humor

September 27, 2021

Glen and the Red Heron…

I was going to draw this last week and actually post it on time but I ended up running into massive self-inflicted technical difficulties! Suffice to say I fried my laptop’s brains and my PC went on strike when I accidentally overloaded its memory… which resulted in me not being able to save anything…

But we’re back! And happy to be so! And isn’t Glen frigging adorbs investigating bad puns? I thought so.

The Making of Glen

I could of spent a lot longer doing this comic in a more anal-retentive manner but I’m sort of in between doing 300 other things so I did this whole comic quick and dirty. I had no idea herons were such an easy shape to draw! Who knew!

April 19, 2021

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.

March 29, 2021

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.

March 9, 2021

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.

November 23, 2020

Glen Has Misgivings about this Year’s Pardoned Turkey

My humor has been a little… dark…. lately. This year’s Thanksgiving comic is the perfect illustration of this. I wanted to do a joke about a pardoned turkey and immediately my mind ran to, “Put him in a balaclava!” (Apparently the voice in my head is British or else it would have said ski mask…) From there it was all down hill.

The Making of Glen

This week’s comic came very easily to me. I drew the body of the turkey first and added his head and wing in a second layer. From there I just needed to add the ski mask, Glen, and something suspicious for him to say. It all went very quickly. Think it took me less than an hour!

February 12, 2020

Glen Decides to Give Cupid a Taste of His Own Medicine…

I guess Glen has had a far more turbulent love life than I have previously thought as he’s in a bit of a vengeful mood today – hunting Cupid with his own bow and arrow. Now how he got these items or what he plans on aiming them at he’s leaving a mystery but I have a feeling Cupid is about to fall head over heals for the Kraken… Today might not be the best day to be a cherub.

The Making of Glen

I wanted very badly to have Glen wearing heart-shaped granny glasses today but I wanted them to be translucent like real sunglasses and I could NOT find online how to do this! So I had to make something up.

Basically I took the watercolor brush, warped the opacity, and painted a nice square over Glen’s face. I then took the eraser and drew two hearts, erasing everything around them, and using a red water color brush to highlight the rims. I then moved them around to the best position on his face before drawing in the nose and ear pieces. I’m happy with the result but I feel like there was probably a LOT easier way to accomplish it. I have to get back to trying to learn more illustration skills. I feel like I am not finding everything I need.

I also made the background with heart decorations but it came out WAY too bright and seemed to be too distracting (seen below) from the over all image so I again took that pink watercolor brush and washed the whole thing out. I am satisfied with the results.

December 11, 2019

Justice is served to Elf on a Shelf…

This week’s comic illustrates what happens when you mix Lord of the Flies with baby caterpillars and a holiday stool pigeon… Does anyone else find that damn elf as creepy as I do?! This was a weirdly cathartic strip this week.

The Making of Glen

This week has been rough. I’m dealing with some things in my personal life that have left me drained of energy, creative juices, and time. As such I needed something super simple to draw and well…. how did it get so complicated?!

I ended up tracing a photo of Elf on a Shelf and then deleting the photo layer and then repeating that with a chair that was tilted at just the right angle. Resize so both fit. Add caterpillars. And lights, and a halo around those lights with a soft wash… and there we have it!

I’m actually happy with this. More so than I thought I would be!

September 6, 2019

Glen Discovers a Problem with his Deadpool Costume…

I remember when the Deadpool movie was coming out. I had no idea who or what Deadpool was and only could imagine one of those fish tanks full of deceased guppies at Walmart… you know, a dead pool.

I did however watch with some glee and intrigue as others argued among themselves about it. Would this movie do the original Deadpool justice? Would he be a psychopathic killer who shags anyone and everyone he sees? And then the obvious… nope… he’s been mainstreamed and cuteyfied, like the Ninja Turtles!

But my issue with Deadpool wasn’t any of the above. I’m not enough of a nerd to care that much about him buuuuut I could wonder how the fuck he was breathing without a mouth hole. My issue was with the artist and his general design. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO SMOTHER HIM?!

Welcome to my mind. It goes off a lot.

PS Glen’s hapless children will always be more subtly disturbing to me than any pansexual serial killer…

August 30, 2019

Glen and the Homicidal Dirt Muppet

Inspiration strikes in the strangest places sometimes. Today it came from a single line in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. The words in question were, “homicidal dirt muppet.” Hilarious without explanation but what the hell is a homicidal dirt muppet?! Clearly it’s a zombie Elmo clawing his way out of the grave with a giant hunting knife clenched in his teeth like the final scene of Freaks. Right? Apparently that’s what my deranged mind thinks… Glen as usual is not really happy with me putting him in this scene as you can tell. He has a thing with Elmo. I don’t know what but the two seem to have some sort of blood feud going. It’s like every time I turn my back he’s picking a fight with some other random character.

I debated whether or not I wanted to post this for Halloween but I decided against it as homicidal dirt muppets can appear at any time of year.

Today’s comic is brought to you by the word Muppet:

Muppet (plural muppets) (Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) An incompetent or foolish person.

Muppet (plural muppets) (American) A fuzzy puppet with big boggly eyes.

June 28, 2019

Glen Follows a Melodramatic Trail of Fluff

It had to happen. We had to be introduced to the most controversial character in the Glen family: the suicidal teddy bear. Why? BECAUSE. I know you’re probably staring at the screen laughing nervously and asking, “What?” It’s OK. We’re all confused. Mostly because I adopted the idea of the suicidal teddy bear from one of the weirdest corners of YouTube as he was featured in Les Rythems Digitales’ Sometimes. Sometimes we all feel like a suicidal teddy bear. Wait, what? No. Just say no to defluffing kids.