Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Episode 34 - Summer Fun!


Yes, Princess actually said this to me.


For the last couple of summers, I've tried to have a theme for our fun time activities, something the girls can dress up for and act out. The first two summers, it was princesses or fairies. The girls get to choose, and I'm kind of stuck with whatever they come up with. Naturally, princesses and fairies aren't exactly my cup of tea (in spite of the fact that I am mother to a Princess and a Pixie, but that's a little different). I tried last summer to get them to play pirates or zombies, but no dice. This year, though, Princess surprised me. She wants to be a ninja. We haven't made ninja costumes yet, but if I can just get to the craft store and find a pattern, we should be good to go.


We've also been playing zombies a lot, and Princess has recently discovered another princess she likes, perhaps even more than Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. She now wants to be Princess Leia. I can not tell you how happy that makes me.


You may have noticed that I'm doing things much differently this week. This week's strip was drawn, inked, and lettered entirely by hand. I only used Photoshop to add the titles. But everything else is as it came off my drawing pad. I didn't even use the zip tones in Manga Studio, relying instead on cross hatching to shade things.


Much as I like Manga Studio, it's simply faster to draw the cartoons by hand. I've been practicing inking with a brush pen and have been pleased with the results. I still need to work on the lettering a bit, but today's strip came out well enough that I can live with it. Let me know what you think.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found you on twitter through @bunnyreview.
My daughter(she's 11) and I love the ninja cartoon. It;s great finding a great cartoonist online.

Mich said...

I don't know if I have enough for a ninja outfit for Princess, but I've got a decent amount of pink satin stuff left from when I made Princess Allura (from Voltron) for a friend that you're welcome to.

I used to know exactly pattern brand and number for ninja costumes, don't think I do anymore.

Helen said...

igster101, I'm glad you enjoyed the cartoon! Bunny is great about retweeting these toons when they come out. If you liked the ninja toon, keep coming back. We'll be addressing zombies next ;)

Helen said...

Mich, how well do you think the pink satin will stand up to Princess' usual antics? Satin would look lovely, but I'm thinking I may have to find something a little tougher. I'll be looking for costume patterns soon. If I don't find a ninja pattern, I'll fudge one!

Oh, and Pixie wants to be the purple ninja.

Jade Twilight said...

Awesome, I laughed my butt off. This is so something my daughter would say.

Helen said...

Jade,

Isn't it great when kids come up with comments like that? I love it! We've been into the whole robots/zombies/ninjas thing all summer, and that sure beats the pants off of Disney Princess in my opinion. I'm no good at tea parties, but I can totally do the ninja assassin thing!