SHHHhhh... silent daily comics day! (Patreon)

Hey fam! I had a lunch visit with two creatives last Saturday, one of which is working on a picture book. She showed me two books that inspired her, and I realized both of them were COMPLETELY SILENT. Not even any sound effects!

I read both books slowly and deliberately while the other two talked about the education systems and art history, two topics I know little about.

Silent comics take TIME, both to read and to make, as I've learned with Miranda's pages while working on Elephant Town. Either way, I felt inspired to make all of my daily comics silent this week.

Let's see how well I got my ideas across, with figurative laryngitis.

I wish I'd drawn the dog smaller; he was far away, but even from a distance you could tell he was so happy to be carrying that stick on his walk.

(As always, these are all for sale, and half-off with your Patreon coupon DAILYSMILE50 - here's the link to the dog one!)

It's funny, I also wish I'd pulled back on THIS one - Fennel's actions in those third & fourth panels are less impactful, pushing all my pens off the table, moving the proofs for the Daily Comics books off the edge.

Every time she makes space for herself nearby me me, I feel the same: irritation with her clumsy mess, followed by a soothing comfort when she starts purring so loud. It always makes me think about how badly she wanted to be an indoor cat when she lived outside, and how much happier she must be now that she has a home. (This one's for sale here!)

The wind pushing the shadow wasn't that dramatic irl, but the effect of the light-sensitive nightlight going on and off was. (The original is a bit lighter, but it's for sale if you'd like it!)

(When you're an experienced comics artist, you learn not to draw the little bunch of dried aster, or the adorable donkey planter with the Christmas cactus, both because they take emphasis away from the central focus of the comic, and also because you would have to draw them exactly the same in EVERY PANEL and that, my friends, is a waste of your time!) (But I had to show you a photo, because that donkey planter is so cute.)

I don't know how Pip manages to corral all my limbs into the top 1/4 of the bed overnight, but I imagine it's an all-night project to do it without waking me up. Maybe that's why he gets so mad when I undo it all. Here's the original if you'd like it!

This last one may only make sense to me and Luke! Then again, if you've been following my dailies for awhile, you know an awful lot about us by now, so...

I've been having garden and bamboo wattle fence thoughts for weeks now. Luke's got Tomato Plans. I can't wait for spring.

This one's for sale here! Don't forget your coupon code!

I'm off now to ship out all of your orders that DIDN'T include the Daily Comics 2024 book now! Those books should be hot off the presses later today, so I'll be stuffing envelopes tonight and tomorrow. I may not get them out til Monday **EDIT!! Tuesday! forgot about the holiday**  ... but you'll get your tracking info as soon as they're in the mail!

All of the GWS original art has sold (if you bought one, thank you!!), but there are still a few original sticker designs and the MSF daily comic is still available! I cleared out most of the inventory so things are easier to find in the store now. :)

Happy Valentine's Day if you practice, and Happy Weekend if you don't! If you're inspired to try to make your own silent comic, btw, I would love to see what you come up with. 🤫