Tag / park

by Andrew Pilcher

A tribe called quest

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The first frame sees the cats on the start of their quest, walking thru Alexandra Park towards the town centre. And the second frame extablishes Smith and Jones’ house to be somewhere in the St Helen’s area of Hastings. I just took this as a chance to portray the cats as they see them selves in their own imaginations. So Jones is, naturally, the Queen, while Smudge is the she-warrior Smudge-Ra. Chumley is more spiritual so I made him the wizard, and poor Smith can’t help but see himself as the fall-guy for the other three.

by Andrew Pilcher

Sandy will return

smith-pilcher-828-150724Sandy’s become a very popular character – as she did last summer, she’s sort of taken over the strip with a simple sweetness that contrasts with Smith and Jones occasional feline cynicism. But I’ve had a plan for her ever since I reintroduced her this year – she was always going to find her master, whether he deserved her or not. She’ll be back next summer – and who knows, maybe she’ll be staying for good next time… Rest assured, it’ll be a story with a happy ending. I only do tragic endings when writing about humans.

by Andrew Pilcher

Gents

smith-pilcher-827-150722Now this storyline is coming to its end I’m drawing a bit more of Alexandra Park as it actually is rather than just creating a generic park background. The bandstand can be seen in the first frame and the toilet block next to the bowling green in the third. Also, as we’re nearing one of the roads that border the park, houses are visible behind the foliage and so are some Victorian iron railings that somehow never got melted down in the Second World war to make Spitfires.

by Andrew Pilcher

Stool pigeon

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by Andrew Pilcher

Before and after

smith-pilcher-825-150717I took some reference photos of Alexandra Park in order to compose the background for this strip.  As you can see, I’ve edited the background slightly to make it a bit easier to read, in effect editing out two trees and a bench from the middle ground behind the bridge. The sewage pipe had to go as well.

As I took this photo a very large bull terrier was splashing around in in the stream behind me, while its owner was frantically trying to coax it out again with a ball.

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by Andrew Pilcher

Stickier

smith-pilcher-824-150715I see so many stick-hounds when I’m walking through the park. I’ve even seen a Border Collie proudly carrying half a tree in its mouth, which directly led to this cartoon. The walking stick and the estate agents’ board which lead up to it are my own invention, but the punchline is true.

by Andrew Pilcher

Stick

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by Andrew Pilcher

Disguise

smith-pilcher-821-150708This storyline appears to be a bit grim, but it’s not really, I promise. I have an entire Sandy plotline mapped out with a happy ending all lined up, but it’s going to take three years for it to all happen, and we’re halfway through year two.

by Andrew Pilcher

Misplaced Loyalty

smith-pilcher-820-150706I’m using an inferior Bristol Board at the moment – the italic fountain pen I use for lettering has taken against it. So apologies for the spidery lettering in the next twenty strips or so. I’ll be back to the decent stuff from Daler-Rowney as soon as I locate some more.