Category: Cartoon

Web comics and other cartoons by by Helen E. H. Madden

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Krampus Challenge – Day 28, Cross-Stitch Krampus?

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Cross-Stitch Krampus in progress

Krampus is looking a little cross...

Yes, I decided to go one step farther with the drawing I posted yesterday. I bought StitchSketch for my iPad and imported the image of the drawing into StitchSketch. It was not a perfect translation from drawing to pattern. I am still learning a lot about the program, and have a lot of cleaning up to do on this pattern. However, I think it has promise. I'll keep working on it over the next few days.

The other thing I need to do over the next few days is figure out what theme I should do for January. I usually dread January and February. Those two months make up the worst part of Girl Scout cookie season, and they're usually so painfully cold and dreary. This year, I want to make January and February more fun, or at least more tolerable. So I'm trying to decide on some themes that I will enjoy the most.

The first option is “Unfinished Business.” I have several projects lying around the house that need to be finished up. Some of these require more effort than others. I was thinking of picking 3-4 unifinished project to start with and knock them out one at a time until they were done, and then finish up more projects until the month is done.

My second option is to spend the month sewing. Pixie has a new sewing maching and she loves it! We went out today about bought a bunch of fleece to make pillows and cozy things with. I have a book on kawaai sewing that I would LOVE to get to work on, as well as several patterns that I've got the fabric for, but never got started on.

Which leads me to my third option for January's theme – “Creature Comforts.” It would in many ways combine options one and two, as I have several unfinished projects that would be very cozy once finished, and I have a list of several new projects that would also be cozy too.

Actually, now that I think about it, the “Creature Comforts” theme would be the best theme. I don't know how cold January is going to be, but it would be nice if I finally finished that granny-square blanket I started last year, and then I could sew a nice kawaii pillow to go with it, and make myself some new clothes, and finish up some unfinished paintings so I have something nice to decorate the house….

Yeah, I think we've settled this matter. Next month, it's “Creature Comforts!” I think we'll all enjoy this one 🙂

 

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ACW Episode 284 – No sugar plum fairies for me!

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Webcomic!

Click on the image above to see it larger.

There really is no good time to make changes to a diet, but taking out excess sugar during the holidays really, really sucks.

But, I really needed to make a change to my diet. I’ve been having problems with joint pain for a couple years now, and it gets worse during the winter. After doing a bit of research, I decided to try removing the excess sugar from my diet. I’ve given up soda, sugar in my coffee or tea, and any store-bought sweets for the most part. I’ve started cooking my meals from scratch, which is a bit of a hassle, but worth it. After a week, my joints, especially my knees, started to feel much better, so yay for getting rid of sugar!

On the down side, cutting out sugar also killed my energy level for the first week. I found myself passing out for hours at a time. I’m still taking little unexpected naps here and there, but it’s not as bad as it was at first week.

Anyway, we’ll see how well I get through this holiday season with a reduced-sugar diet.

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I Love Drawing Comics!

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Hubster pencils!

Hubster is sooooo cute!

I have slowly learned over time that when I am sloppy drawing pencils, I actually get the penciling done faster, and better, than when I agonize over the details. There was actually another layer of VERY sloppy sketching with this snippet, but I accidentally deleted it once I had the pencil lines I actually wanted. Oh well! Maybe when I do more penciling tomorrow, I’ll be able to show it then!

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Episode 283 – Parents, don’t let your babies grow up to be assholes

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Webcomic!

Click on the image to see it full-size!

This actually happened, although the backpack in question belonged to another young lady, not Princess. Regardless of who’s bag it was, I still get pissed off when I think about it. I expect a certain level of civilized behavior from kids, and the older they get, the more I expect. So when I see a kid acting like a huge jerk, I do not shrink from calling them on it. And when a parent lets me know they tolerate that kind of behavior, I don’t hesitate to call them out either.

Honestly, the first job of a parent is to keep their kids safe and healthy. The second job, though, is to civilize those little savages. And to be honest, I think the civilization process is a huge part of the keeping safe process. Because I am not joking – one of these days I will kill one of these kids.

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ACW Episode 282 – Run, Princess, Run!!

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Webcomic!

Click on the image above to see it bigger.

Yes, it took me forever to get this one done. I apologize. I started this at the beginning of October, which turned out to be one of the busiest months I’ve had to deal with in a loooooooong time. It was so busy and so hectic, in fact, that I look forward to the peace and quiet of Girl Scout cookie season.

Yes, I actually said that. And now I’ve put it in writing.

What kept me so busy? Well, Girl Scouts was one part of it. In addition to our troop meetings, we also had an archery trip and a murder mystery party. Then there was Halloween and All Saints Day. The girls attend Catholic school, and this year Pixie’s class held a “Courtyard of Saints,” where all the students dressed up as different saints and gave a sort of living history presentation. Pixie was Mother Teresa, so I spent a week sewing that costume for her. And then, since we can’t visit one end of the spectrum without seeing the other, I also had to sew her a Kylo Ren costume for Halloween. Princess wanted to be a Jedi, so there was that to sew. And of course, I was busy working on the October Crochet challenge. But what kept me busiest of all in October was…

Cross Country.

Princess was encouraged by her friends to join, and I’m very glad she did, because it was a great experience for her. She went from barely being able to run a mile to running 3 miles, and over the course of the month shaved 4 minutes off her mile run time. Thankfully, though, the Cross Country season ended before Halloween, because practice was 3 days a week with a race on top of that, so just about every day after school, we were running somewhere for 2 hours at a time. Well, Princess was running. I opted to do lawn work at the school (we do school service hours every year), or drive kids to races and chaperon at events. It was time-consuming, to say the least.

But now Cross Country is over, and November’s challenge is drawing, so I’m going to get back to regular work on the webcomic. I can’t promise weekly updates, but I certainly think I can do better than once a month!

Enjoy the webcomic! Later today, I’ll post another update for the November drawing challenge.

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ACW Episode 281 – Tomatoes!

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Webcomic!

Click on the image to view it full-sized!

It took me about as long to draw this webcomic as it did to find a recipe for my tomatoes. Thankfully, webcomics do not go all green and fuzzy unless you draw them that way.

I spent yesterday working on Pixie’s Mother Teresa costume and planning how I’m going to survive the next month. I love October, but this one is going to be very busy. I have a troop meeting to hold, a trip to the archery range, and a mystery party to plan and host, all for Girl Scouts. Not to mention I promised a certain couple of someones that I would let them have a Halloween slumber party. Aaaaaand I still have more tomatoes to cook.

Anyway, I’m going to crochet for a bit now, and hopefully post the results later tonight. Have fun!

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ACW Episode 280 – Mamas, don’t let your kitties grow up to be rockets

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Stinky webcomic!

Click on the pic to see it bigger!

This happens. A lot. It’s mainly just the Jelly Bean and Marmalade, the Stinko-Twins. One of them jumps up on the couch while I’m working and a huge, smelly cloud follows them. Thankfully our other cat, Hiccup, is too… “laid back” to launch himself via any means. Okay, he really just doesn’t like to move.

The kids are finally back in school. Princess has started Cross Country which means I’m going to be busy four afternoons a week, and when Pixie’s Girl Scout troop starts up, that means I’ll be busy five afternoons a week. I’m going to have to find some portable work to bring with me. Unless, of course, I’m drafted to volunteer with either group.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful, stink-free holiday weekend! Now back to your regularly scheduled life.

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ACW Episode 279 – Don’t drink and paint

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Webcomic!

Click on the image above to see it bigger!

I had the opportunity last month to go out for a little “me” time. A local tea shop hosted a “Pinot & Painting” night, and it was fantastic! They served grown-up treats – cheese fondue, a chocolate fountain with strawberries, etc. And best of all, they had WINE!

I only had one glass, but let me tell you, when you are painting at a table with a dozen other women, and you’re all drinking wine and you all have cups of paint water sitting right next to you, it’s very easy to confuse the wine and the paint water. Until you drink it, that is. Then you realize you have made a horrible, horrible mistake.

Anyhoo, I had a lovely evening painting, although I must confess, the subject matter the instructor choose for painting was not exactly to my taste. She brought a reference photo of some local waterfowl. While her demo painting looked very nice, mine ended up looking more like the promotional poster for a movie entitled, “Psycho Ducks of DOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

Psycho Ducks of DOOOOOOM!

“Psycho Ducks of DOOOOOOM!” coming to a theater near you!

Again, this is not a subject matter I would normally paint. My paintings usually look more like this…

The Twisted Lip

“The Twisted Lip” by Helen E. H. Madden

Or they look something like this…

Fight Like a Girl!

Work in progress – “Fight Like A Girl (Black Widow) by Helen E. H. Madden

This last painting is one of a series that I’m doing for Pixie’s room. I found some images on the web of Black Widow, Katniss Everdeen, etc. I ran the images through Photoshop to break them down into basic colors and add the caption and background color. Then I traced that image onto the canvas. Now I’m doing a little DIY paint-by-numbers, matching the colors from my Photoshopped image as I paint. Not my most artistic work, but these paintings will look nice in Pixie’s room when they’re all done.

So yeah, crazy waterfowl are not my usual subject matter for painting. Although I could see doing a painting of Howard the Duck for our living room. Hmmmmmm… Maybe “Psychotic Ducks of DOOOOOOM!” belongs on my walls after all.

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ACW Episode 278 – I have 1980s hair!

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Webcomic!

Click on the image above to see it larger!

YES! I had all my hair cut off! I just couldn’t stand it anymore. It was too hot for the summer and the neighborhood life guards keep over-chlorinating the pool, so my hair was a bit frazzled. But now it’s shorter than it’s been in a long while. In fact, last time it was this short was the late 1980s/early 1990s. I used to spray this bright metallic red hair spray on my hair, so everyone said I looked like Annie Lennox back then. So I was cool with going back to that style. But then I slept on my new hair cut for a night and woke up looking like a Flock of Seagulls had nested on my head. I thankfully managed to fix that.

I know I should post a pic of what my hair looks like now, but I haven’t had time to take one yet. I’ll get to that at some point. Right now, I’m busy keeping up with the kids for summer break. Hopefully, you all are having a nice, relaxing summer.