Happy Hooves

In an earlier post I said that indie games were now the main creative thread I had going in my life, not the only thread. One of the other things I have been doing is these little comic strips for the the guy who helps us look after our horse's feet. He (Peter) is kind of like the Caesar Millan of horses, he arrives to find people thinking there is a problem with their horse, but time after time its the people who need to change and learn a bit about horse psychology and physiology.

So this deal where I do some strips that he can use on his CDs and web site in return for his help with us learning how to be horse owners fits in perfectly with my new life philosophy. I've also quite enjoyed getting to know Peter, I don't think he'd mind me describing him as a wise old dog. Conversations with him are always intellectually nourishing, he is all about understanding what's around you and working with it instead of jamming our clumsy human ways into every situation. Its how I want to live my whole life.

I'll put some thoughts about the strips at the end of the post.

Click on images to enlarge.

I used to draw this kind of thing all the time when I was younger, before I knew how to animate. I grew up a big fan of comics like Snake and Swamp, so this was/is kind of a fun trip back to some earlier influences.

As far as the process goes I think the main difference here is that it was the relationship between each of these characters that became clearest first, I think I usually try to define a whole bunch of specifics about any ongoing characters. But here it was more who understood who on what level that I was thinking about and from there they almost seem to write themselves. I'm not saying its a better way, just something a bit different for me, and I think I'd have to say its been easier too.

I suppose you could get the impression that I've been very productive, but these were produced over a period of months :P