When Sam met Fuzzy

Longtime readers will likely recognize our closing scene -- the first meeting of Sam and Fuzzy, which was chronicled in full long ago, in our 2004 Christmas special.

It's also a fitting finale for "Sam and Fuzzy Fix Your Problem", which wraps today! But as you can probably tell, it's only the first part of a much larger story. The second part begins next week... but tune in this Wednesday and Friday for a couple of fun between-volume surprises.

-Sam Logan

And with that, our current story -- the final chapter of "Sam and Fuzzy Fix Your Problem" -- is almost over. But we've still got one last strip to go! It arrives on Monday.

After that, I've got a couple of fun stand-alone strips to fill out the rest of next week before kicking off our next proper Volume on the 22nd. Fun times ahead!

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Rainy Day Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"So, now that we know Brain can speak... is the real reason Hazel got annoyed with him back in this comic because he was meowing like a cat instead of talking to her? (Because he was 'paranoid' someone else might be listening?)" -Tom

Yes! Good catch.

Man, I got a ton of similar "does this mean" questions this week. Let's just say that, yes, if you go back and re-read those Fuzzy/Hazel flashback stories, you can find many other scenes that are similarly...uh... enhanced... in light of the stuff you saw in this week's strips. But I won't answer any more Q and A questions about them, lest I spoil anyone's fun!

"How did you draw that nighttime rain effect you've been doing lately? Do you use white ink?" -Suzanne

That's certainly one of the ways we used to do it in the olden days -- colour the background in black, then draw the rain on top using... well, whiteout, basically. It was either than or painstakingly colour in the black space AROUND the rain... talk about a nightmare!

But these days, I take the coward's way out and just invert that business in Photoshop. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the original line-art and the final, Photoshopped version:



As you can probably guess, I just use the lasso tool to select the lines I want to invert -- which in this case was only the rain, and not the headlight beams or car windows -- and have at it! Then I just fill in the remaining black space using the bucket and I'm done!

Selecting out all the right lines to invert is a bit tedious, but it's got nothing on the old whiteout method! (But it probably seems really slow to anyone who draws on a tablet... where you can just instantly switch the colour of your lines at any time!)

"Ref: your comment in this Q and A... is rain the new tunnels?" -Karsten

Rain is totally the new tunnels. I'm not sure what the new rain is, though. Snow?

"My best friend and I were reading through some of our favourite comic books today and suddenly were struck by the similarity between Rikk Estoban and Jhonen Vasquez/Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Was that an intentional parody?" -Jenna and Chandra

Rikk Estoban is what would happen if Jhonen Vasquez was twice as eccentric and half as talented. (Please don't tell Rikk I said that.)

I got to talk to Jhonen -- for like six seconds anyway -- when a bunch of us webcomic types were hanging out post-con at ECCC this year. He seemed like a pretty mellow dude! I'd like to think that, if he ever saw Rikk's work, he'd be amused rather than irritated... but I suppose both are equally possible!

That's a wrap for this week! See you on Monday.

-Sam Logan

Bat Auction Closes Today!

Well, I bet I'm going to get some good Q and A questions this week!

Just a reminder... the ebay auction for the "Bat Fuzzy" originals closes just a little after 2pm today, PST! The winner receives both the massive 22 x 14 bat artwork, plus a brand new custom sketch of any Sam and Fuzzy character dressed as any super hero (or villain).

I am really curious to find out who I'm going to end up drawing. Excitement!

-Sam Logan