This is a very odd strip (in the early strips especially) because of the use of black. To explain, I’ll have to take you back to high school, where a teacher told me that the things that add value or make something “artistic” in illustration are: use of blacks, and variable line weight.
This was one of the main reasons in Bruno that I used neither. I was young, it was a stupid reason, but the end result was that I learned a hell of a lot.
Give yourself good limitations or a nasty crutch, and you’ll be amazed at the solutions you can fine.
While in New Orleans, I contemplated many times drawing portraits for money on the streets. I’m not sure if I truly thought I wouldn’t be good at it, or if it was merely fear, but I never did. So I had Bruno do it.
In general I avoided trying to write dialects this strong in Bruno, but this was an actual conversation I had with a man on the street, as best as I could record it after the fact.
I now know what a corn is.
Of course I found it fascinating when I read about this, and I enjoyed showing both sides of the coin of what could be implied by her statement.
Are, more having Bruno being cruel to me. Fun-fun.
The background was one of the first mood-backgrounds I attempted, this one inspired by rainy backgrounds found in the strip Calvin & Hobbes.
I needed a good reason for Bruno to leave New Orleans, and the desperate request from an uncle and aunt who loathe her seemed a perfect solution.
I find it interesting, that if one character despises another (like Lenny expressed in regards to Paul), it seems a little mean or petty. But if it’s returned, it makes it a bit more fun.
It’s like throwing snowballs at someone, unless your target wants to throw them back as well, you’re kinda’ being a jerk.