The Professional Webspace of Designer and Illustrator Kevin Cornell:
"Design, Art, and Lackluster Humor."
Sandcastles In The Air
As the summer months fade like ghosts from our minds, I decided to, like some sort of EPA malcontent, shut down the ghost containment facility and unleash summer memories upon the world.
Which is an elaborate way of saying... this comic is from the summer. Though in truth, I actually had to redraw and recolor it this week for posting, since the original was hastily scrawled in my sketchbook while lounging on the beach, and the last frame wasn't even drawn, only written.
This is not just my comic however. It was written by myself, and Mssrs. Sutter and Dalkner*. As the archives can attest to, every so often the three of us (or Mr. Weychert) collaborate on a comic, and more often than not I've shared the results.
Hopefully, you were busy raking leaves when you read this comic, or doing some other Fall activity. I truly believe that is really the only way to experience the most enchanting aspects of the seasons — while in the middle of a completely different season. It's very hard to walk out of the house during fall and say "Ooh — I appreciate Fall". You're probably distracted by the dampness, or the increased schoolbus traffic, or bizarre, slimy mushrooms growing in places you don't want them. But mere months ago, in the midst of the heat and humidity of summer, if you walked outside and it was cool and crisp and fragrant, then you probably thought "Oooh! I miss Fall." You probably wished you had a mushroom just then, to hurl at a group of children boarding a schoolbus.
So, I hope this comic has brought back those summer memories for you. Or, if you're in Australia, think of this as a vision of the future, and consider Sutter, Pete and I some trio of far-seeing Shakespearian witches. Which isn't that far from the truth since we all pitched in on that cauldron. And that house landed on Pete.
*Whoops! Mr. Ian Corey also deserves a writing credit! Sorry Ian!
Comments on this Article
There are currently 20 comments.
3. testMonkey
As a kid, you got mushrooms tossed on you while trying to board a bus, didn't you? Poor dear.
On the bright side, it seems to have sufficiently warped you into this creative mess mastermind that we all get to enjoy today. So yea! for fungal-tossing, says I.
4. Cliener von Cleanskin
I was about to launch into a tirade lambasting your implicit northern-hemispheric bias when I reached the paragraph mentioning Australia. Instead, I doff my hat in your general direction while looking forward to a veritable nautical feast at a beach near me!
5. Phyllis
Oh, I don't know, I often appreciate the season at hand, if only for the first few days. It's so lovely to step outside and find the weather slightly less than broiling for the first time in recent memory. Admittedly, it's not long until I whistfully think of sunny days on the beach, or my thoughts turn ahead to the colder weather to come, when we can break out the sweaters and hot chocolate. Is it part of the human condition to constantly want what we don't have, rather than to relax and simply enjoy where we are right now? Or maybe it's a condition created by walking into a store, in the middle of September, and being confronted by swimsuits on clearance one isle over from the early Christmas decor for the compulsive shoppers. *sigh* Now the poignantly sweet and sad song from Charlotte's Web is playing in my mind. I need a hug.
BTW, loved the Ghost Busters reference! :-D
6. bearskinrug
Testmonkey - Well, they were more like rocks. And it was because of a sordid affair I was having with a Pharisee's wife. I got into coveting early in life.
Cliener - If there's one thing we at Bearskinrug Industries do, it's think globally. I'm very cosmopolitan. That's why my next post will be entirely in Mandarin Oranges.
Phyllis - You know, part of the reason I'm a poor dresser is because you can't actually buy clothing for a certain season IN that season. I'm always forced to pick from compulsive shopper leftovers. Great, now I have that song in my head. Or... actually wait, this is Grand Funk Railroad.
7. Glindon
I think Fall is a fantastic season, but in Washington State it marks the return of the giant Wolf Spiders. I think they start heading indoors because they want to keep warm, but I'm not really sure. If only they were as delicious as your crab minions...
8. bearskinrug
Well, have you tried putting Old Bay on the spiders? That's the key to crabs...
9. Ian
If you look closely, you'll notice some of the grosser frames in this comic were scrawled into your book with my hand.
10. HaroldB
I imagine that it gets more and more hot on that beach, what with the sun, glaring sand, boiling water. That poor man's swuimsuit shrinks down to what can only be thought of as a small neckerchief, but not for th neck at all.
11. Vince
Being from Arizona I can go out and say that I do appreciate the fall. Sadly, it still is pretty hot out.
Soon enough I shall be enjoying the fall weather.
12. Phyllis
I don't think his swimsuit shrinks, per se, only his midriff is expanding due to the hearty meal he's enjoying there. Boiled blue crabs - my favorite!
13. Ellyn
I certainly hope it is a vision of the future- though it's looking increasingly like Winter shall consider forever in my poor, wet state of Tasmania. *sigh*
I am longing for the time when we can actually go swimming without bits of us freezing off and bobbing away into the ocean...
14. Ellyn
remain. not consider. Remain.
I've got a song playing, and I accidentally wrote the word from the song.
Let this be a lesson to all: Do not listen to songs containing profanity or innuendo when composing a business email, or some such thing where making a good impression is crucial.
15. Phyllis
Wise words, Ellyn! And here I thought you were just waxing poetic in the first one ... that Winter might consider [staying] forever. :-)
Where I'm at (Florida), we like to say that we have two seasons: Summer and Not Summer ... if it gets colder than 40 degrees, people start panicking. One of my daughters, when she was about three, told her sister, "Today on the playground, I'm gonna make a snowball in the sand!" Yes, it's just that sad ....
16. bearskinrug
So the panic... is that sort of an "Oh no, here comes an Ice Age!" thing?
17. Phyllis
Yeah ... people frantically swarm into stores seeking heavy coats (which really don't exist south of the Mason-Dixon line) and children ask their parents in great bewilderment what a scarf is and how do they put one on? (or, as my kids do, they try to insist on wearing shorts and flipflops to school anyway)
Having spent time in Chicago, I find this all rather amusing ... there, we considered anything over zero to be comforable and if the temperature rose above freezing, it was quite warm. Course, there, people panic when the temperature rises above 90 and I thought that was funny, too ... :-)
It's all relative!
18. bananaglyph
That is truly one of the most surreal things you've one Kevin. And that's saying something.
19. bearskinrug
20. Ellyn
Phyllis, Florida sounds downright scary! At the time when you're panicking I might just be still wearing a T-shirt, my native home having nothing between it and Antarctica an' all. ;-)
But we've pretty much got two seasons here as well. Our version being Cold, and Slightly Less Cold. ^_^
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1. Zaihan K.
That has got to be the most mouth watering fantasy for you lot. Crabby minnions always taste better when killed by their own kin! Haha!