Tauhid Bondia

8-16

8-15

8-14

Today’s comic is special. The art is by a young fellow named Dash Sutton. This super talented 12 year-old also happens to be the son of a buddy of mine from high school.
When I first came up with the idea for this strip I knew I wanted the art style to be chaotic and underdeveloped, like it was done by a kid with clear if unrefined talent. So naturally, after trying (and failing) to do it myself my editor suggested letting an actual kid do it. Dash, who has attended an arts school since...

8-13

8-12

8-11

8-10

8-9

Welcome back to new Crabgrass comics! let's kick things off with a nice long story arc shall we?

Kevin's Bad Day: 12

The ambition with this story arc was to make a big print featuring all twelve comics in a grid. I was so dang proud of this idea. I don't really have a head for merchandising but I felt I'd pretty much knocked it out of the park with this one. I sold twelve. I think they're still in the store if anyone is interested. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 11

This comic features the only word balloon in the strip. I don't know why I needed to illustrate that the door was locked visually. It's pretty obvious from Kevin's acting as well as the following panels. I'd definitely leave that out if I did it now. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 10

Breaking panels again with this one. This choice actually caused a little confusion among readers since Kevin can be seen past Miles in the 3rd panel and behind him in the 4th. I now realize I could have fixed that by cutting Kevin off in the 3rd panel instead of having him overlap, but what's done is done. Eh.

Kevin's Bad Day: 9

I felt Kevin's "Oh, COME on!" expression really needed words. In fact, I almost broke convention and put in the word balloon as a sort of meta thing. But in the end, I stuck with the "silent comic" idea and thankfully folks didn't have any trouble getting the gag. 

Kevins Bad Day: 8

Sometimes you surprise yourself. I went into that last panel with very little confidence I could successfully draw Kevin tugging his shirt over his head like that. It turned out well. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 7

One of my favorite things to draw is the place where grass terminates on the bank of a creek or pond. One of my least favorites is water splashing. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 6

This strip was fun/challenging. I tried my hand at drawing the bees individually but how I drew them wasn't quite cohesive enough for my taste. So I broke down and made a custom brush to quickly render different sizes of bees facing random directions. The tornado effect I did the old fashioned way. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 5

Speaking of cartoon influences, enter the classic cartoon beehive! As a kid they always made me think a real beehive would be tasty to eat. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 4

I've always been really influenced by Bugs Bunny and the gang when it comes to physical humor. You just can't beat that stuff. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 3

It's always challenging to make Kevin and Miles interact with things up close. Their proportions are so crazy that anything they collide with makes contact with their head long before it reaches their body. It's why we almost never see them hug. 

Kevin's Bad Day: 2

I think this was the first time I ever broke through the comic panels in a strip. There usually ins't much need for that kind antic it in this format but I really wanted the reader to know they were in for more than they expected by that last panel.

Kevin's Bad Day: 1

This is still one of my favorite arcs. I got the idea from a run Scott Kurtz did on PvP some years back. Telling a story without words is pretty challenging but also a whole different kind of fun. 

IT'S OFFICIAL... AGAIN!

Crabgrass Launches in newspapers on the 27th of this month. It's been a nerve-wracking few months but the day is nearly here! I just want to thank all of you for sticking with me and supporting my career through these ups and downs. You guys really got me through this. being able to count on your support (both morally and financially) has made this whole thing possible. If I'd had to get a day job instead of staying focused on the strip, there's no telling where I'd be on this journey. So aga...

THE LONG NO

As a dad I have fallen into this trap more than once. Any kids reading this I want you to understand. We lecture because we have sneaking suspicion that you aren't listening. So we go with quantity over quality. If we keep yammering there's a chance some small amount of wisdom may get through. 

MILLION DOLLAR IDEA

Getting rich seemed like such a foregone conclusion to me and my friends growing up. We'd just get famous or invent something and BAM!! Fortune City. I'm here to say I haven't invented a single thing in my 45 years. Not even close really. I did gather a nice instagram following though. Does that make me famous? Because I'm still not rich...

ALSO HEATHCLIFF

Cats are girls and boys are dogs was one of those leaps of logic that I made as a very small child and then just didn't examine until long after I was old enough to know better. Then, of course, I said it out loud in front of my friend and immediately regretted it. 

THIS WAS NEVER A DEMOCRACY

I came up under a strict Momocracy. 

DEAL OR NO DEAL

Kevin's relationship with Mrs. Campbell was a lot like my relationship with all my teachers. I was trouble and they were just trying to do their jobs. Needless to say I spent a fair amount of  time sitting in a desk outside the classroom trying to track down all that mysterious "potential" I wasn't living up to. 

FIRST SNOW

I'm not crazy. I remember lots of snow in winter when I was a kid. We'd often get snow days off school and there was always enough snow to make a snowman. I still live in the same area and these days we get one good snow fall all winter if we're lucky. One. I'm not crazy. 

CHAINSAW CABIN 3

This fictitious movie pops up a few times in the strip. It's an example of one of my favorite pastimes: coming up with familiar but made up popular media and throwing a ™ behind it. At first it seemed like the safest way to avoid copyright issues, but I've since been informed that since it's a comic that's not really a danger. So now I just do it to be silly. 

THE PLEAD OFFENSIVE

I always thought my mom enjoyed watching me beg for something before finally saying yes. As a parent I've realized that it's more like we want to milk the feeling of making our kids happy. It's a little twisted but nothing else brings us quite so much joy and parents need dopamine too.

TEACHERS ALL THE WAY DOWN

This strip was lifted almost verbatim from my childhood. My mind was blown all over again when I found out that most teachers aren't even experts in the fields they teach!