Book 1, Page 203

Hi Patrons!

I really enjoy how people connect (and sometimes butt heads) over food.

Despite being from Pittsburgh, a pierogi-rich city, I don't have a personal connection to pierogies. According to the internet, "pierogi" is a plural noun, and adding the S is an English thing that annoys some pedants. But plenty of Ukrainian-Canadians with immigrant relatives write "perogies." There was a Reddit thread where Americans and Canadians tried to find out why their Ukrainian grandparents said pedaheh/pyrohy. And the Facebook page Babas Kitchen (Ukrainian food and more) captioned a cooking post "Pudahea. I made it I name it. Don't care what you call yours. This is Pudahea." Since "pierogi" seems to be the standard for English-language spelling and Ukrainian/Polish grammar, that's what I used for Teddy's dialogue.

I drew a few versions of panel 3. Originally, Babe was the one saying "Whatever they are, they're delicious." But we gave the line to Wrench since Wrench would have been in on the food order and hasn't gotten any lines yet. I couldn't find anything in my chats with Barry about the decision, so it must have been a conversation we had at Refuge Cafe.

These layouts weren't bad, exactly, but they seemed flat, as if the characters were standing in a line on a small stage. At this point, I asked Barry to weigh in. He made one suggestion by duplicating my sketch in Photoshop and changing some characters' sizes to make them look closer or farther away. The other suggestion was a new sketch.

Cartoonists often have to be reminded to draw more panels with background detail and full-body drawings. I remember one rule of thumb that suggested one panel per page showing the characters from head to toe. I keep that advice in mind, but I liked #2 better for this page. It makes sense for everyone to be close together. The characters are in the middle of a conversation, so it’s not the time to pull back and remind the readers what's in the background.

Thanks, as always, for supporting me on Patreon! I'm glad you're here for the deep dives.