Chesca Hause

COMIC: Charming Company

My husband came up with the idea for this comic when we were out to dinner -apropos of nothing.

Making of "World of Parentcraft"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.  

This one is completely aimed at World of Warcraft players and unfortunately won't make much sense to anyone else.   Here's a rough translation:  

Mom: "Thanks for looking after the kids for us tonight.  We already put the baby to bed, you'll just need to entertain the bigger kid for a bit.  He got smarter recently, so watch out that he doesn't wear you down or get too mad.  If he thro...

Making of "Hatchlings"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.   

The punchline of this one was originally going to be a dad croc and son slobbing out on the couch, but I thought having several baby crocs would be cuter and give me more couch potato joke options.

I love doing pictures where the mess tells a story, but they also take ages!  It's like a puzzle, where you have to consider everything from a storytelling and technical perspective.  I wanted t...

COMIC: World of Parentcraft

This one is going to be a bit a niche! ;)

BONUS PANEL

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Making of "Newb"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.   

I keep falling into this trap of thinking that the short/closeup ones are going to be easy!  So much ends up resting on the characters expressions, that I end up having to rework them over and over until I get them just right.  This one was a toughie.  The situation in the second panel needed to look uncomfortable, but not TOO menacing. 

I started off with the kid playing a Switch because...

COMIC: Hatchlings

What do you think?  Who has it easier -mammals or reptiles?

BONUS PANEL 

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Newb BONUS Panel

Managed to figure out that bonus panel for the "Newb" comic! :D

Making of "Hurry"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.  

This one kind of happened to me.  I accidentally gave my 4yo the then 1yo's shorts, which he squeezed himself into and then very confused, declared that he must have grown! 

This comic stayed pretty consistent from start to finish, with just some minor tweaks.  I used a picture of the mom from an older strip for the initial layout, which is why she has the bandanna at the start.  Turns out I dr...

COMIC: Hurry

I was going to post the previous comic publicly today, but I suddenly realized that there must be a bonus panel joke I could do with it.  I just finished this one, so it will go live today instead and give me a bit more time to think of a bonus for "Newb".  Any suggestions welcome! :)

COMIC: Newb

A mother's patience knows *some* bounds...

Making of "Epic Team Up"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic. 

I came up with this idea while watching my kids play.  My 4yo loves to get dressed up in mismatched costume parts and act things out that I'm sure seem cool in his head, but look ridiculous to the outside observer.

I wanted the "imaged" bit in a very different style, so I msged my pal Francisco Salinas from Dream Wardens, who draws most e...

COMIC: Epic Team-Up

I called in the help of my friend Francisco Salinas over at Dream Wardens for this one!  You can see more of his awesome work on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Stickers Preview

I just put an order in for 100 of these reward sticker sheets!!  I'm so excited!!!! 

Die-cut stickers of the cat family on the way too!! 

The Making of "Use Your Head"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.

This was the winning tweet from my "Turn Your Tweet into a Comic" contest.  I was having a hard time getting started, so my wonderful husband (GhostHause) stepped in and did the initial layout to get me going.  It did the trick! :)

I wanted...

Dress Up Guide

The next comic is going to be a collaboration with one of my friends DreamWardens!  I'm SUPER excited because I've never done a colab before and I know he's going to knock it out of the park!  Without spoiling the surprise too much, here's a sketch guide I sent him! :)

COMIC: Use Your Head

This is the winner of my "Turn Your Tweet Into a Comic" contest!  

The original tweet by The Dadvocate  

Making of "Fan Service"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.  

I thought this would be an easy one, but the simplicity made everything rest so much more on the text and body language.  So many tweaks!

Fan Service BONUS (updated!)

I couldn't resist adding a few extra fandoms! :D

COMIC: Fan Service

I need so little convincing... 

SCROLL DOWN for BONUS panel!  
Can you name them all?

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Making of "That Smell"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic. 

The "extras" usually start out as unassigned blob people.  Once I have their body shapes I can then research animals to fit.  I like to try to mix it up, so they're not all the same family (mammals, reptiles, birds etc)

I meddled with this one a lot as I went through it, which is not ideal because the later I make a change, the more work has to go into it.  Probably the biggest change here was flipping th...

Super Secret Merch

I'm excited to share a super secret something I've been working on: Reward Stickers!!  

The 1st set will be the "New Parent" pack -perfect for baby shower gifts! :)

(It's OK, I know "poopsplosion" is spelled wrong, it has since been corrected) 

COMIC: That Smell

What is that...smell...?!

Making of "Focusing on the Positive"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.  

This one started off as 3 panels, but it was getting overcrowded and I could get the job done in 2.

They started out with champagne flutes that I stole from a previous strip, but I realized that was a bit over the top, so I swapped them to wine glasses.  I'm not actually that big a drinker, so I'm glad I caught the mistake! :)

It took me a while to settle on the dad's expression at the end.  I want...

COMIC: Focusing on the Positive

Haven't figured out a witty tag line for this one yet, but I didn't want to hold off posting! :)

Making of "Playing Favorites"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.  

I came up with this one spontaneously while talking to my Roomba -as you do. :P

My main concern was making the last panel as clear as possible.  I didn't want people either not recognizing the Roomba, or thinking she was actually referring to the baby all along!  

I briefly considered having the Roomba "talk" but felt it took away from the simplicity of the joke, so I took it out again. 

Patreon Tier Changes

After getting some excellent advice, I've shuffled up my Patreon tiers/rewards a bit.

Access to my behind the scenes stuff is now only $2 -down from $3!

Access to future comics is now $5 (up from $3) but if you were already pledging at $3, then you're grandfathered in and will still get access.  Although if you want to go up to $5, I'd certainly appreciate it haha! :)

I also have 2 new tiers.  At $10 you can pick a comic every month and I'll send y...

COMIC: Playing Favorites

Yes, of course I have my favorite!

(Scroll down for BONUS panel)

BONUS:

Making of "Redshirting"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic. 

 The comic went through quite a few tweaks, from frame arrangement at the beginning to slight color and script changes at the end.   

I had a lot of fun designing the Star Trek characters for this one.  I hope I'll be able to find an excuse to use them again! :)  As you can see here, Bones was briefly a grumpy goat, but I worried the long face made him a bit too Spockish, so I changed him to a t...

COMIC: Redshirting

I can't be the only one who's been confused by mom-lingo.

My 4yo caught me coloring this one and it was IMPOSSIBLE to explain why his character getting attacked by a monster was "funny".

Me "It's OK buddy, it's not really happening, it's just what the mom is imaginin- ...wait.  No.  That's worse."

Making of "Turn Out the Lights"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic.

This one was pretty straight forward and I actually managed to complete it in a day, which is pretty rare!  The dad's pose in the 2nd panel was the hardest part to get right.