Louistrations

Wait, before you start reading this; go get "Wind of Change" by Scorpions and make sure it's playing. Have you got it playing? Yay, thank you! That sets the atmosphere nicely, such a beautiful song. As you may have already gathered, there is definitely change in the wind. Or maybe it's just volcanic ash, I'm not sure.

Anyway! This is the updated design for my character Holly. It's taken me a while but this is what I'm happy with. The hairstyle is a bit of a throwback to Holly's early years, hehe.

There were several reasons for the change. Some practical, such as the smaller pony tail gives me more space in a comic strip panel (the old ponytail was such a bother!) and other changes are ones I've just been wanting to make for a while. I wanted a slightly younger and more whimsical Holly. I feel that she's better suited to the stories that I have in store for her.

I've laid out some old drawings of Holly so that you can see how her design has changed over the years. I can't believe I've been drawing her for over 18 years now, that makes me feel very old!

Quite a momentous occasion, this is the first time that Harriet has had a comic strip completely to herself!

I used actual pencil crayons for the first time in many years! The colours were altered slightly on the computer to keep consistency though.

The green crayon was constantly breaking on me, so much so that I started to consider relinquishing green as my favourite colour. You sharpen the pencil only to have the tip cleanly fall out; so you try and lodge it back in, but that never works!

So, we got Wii Fit on Friday. In case you've managed to miss the mass advertising; Wii Fit is an exercise suite for Wii. It has various activities including aerobics, yoga and other balance-related games.

I mainly got it for my sisters to use. They're both dancers and have incredibly good balance to begin with, so my chances of topping the score boards are pretty slim. (Sorry, that was bad.)

The balance board is a lot larger and heavier than I expected. Cycling for two miles with that thing on your back is no fun at all.

Holly was actually drawn wearing a dress, which was coloured with the same colour as skin. Just so you know.

I think I made this one a little obscure, please read it carefully.

I've spent the past week home alone with the dog while my family has been away on holiday. I never would have guessed that such a small dog would be such hard work!

Created using Adobe Photoshop.

Created using Adobe Photoshop.

Created using Adobe Photoshop.

Created using Adobe Photoshop.

Created using Adobe Photoshop.

Holly surrounded by holly.

Created using Corel PhotoPaint.

Holly in a spoof scene of "Back to the Future Part 2". Ink on paper.

Ink on paper. Quite possibly the only Holly comic without an appearance of Holly.

Ink on paper.

Some of the Holly comic strips that ran in the school newspaper.

Holly as drawn on the VTECH Video Painter, 1996.

Holly Halloween special. Ink and pencil crayon.

Inked drawing coloured using felt tip pens. Captioning was created using a type writer. Yes, a type writer!

Ink on paper. Speech bubble text was word processed at a later date to improve visibility.

Pencil on paper.

One of the surviving early Holly comics. Pencil on paper.

If you can't understand the handwriting, don't worry, it doesn't make sense.