Author: LabMiceCreator

Just keeping calm and drawing on.

Inktober 2022: Crossing the Finish Line

Inktober artists: we did it!

This challenge was so much fun, I’m glad I finally went for it. It was the highlight of my day to see the unique responses to each prompt, and I found some great artists to follow on Instagram. I plan to do Inktober again next year–this time with more advance planning (like, the entire month of September…).

Between pushing to finish up Q is for Quarantine in September, and spending all month on Inktober…I am tired. I’ll be posting a comic weekly on Fridays during November and December, both brand-new and from the last few years (along with nicely edited versions of three Inktober comic strips), and evaluate how that’s working for me going into the New Year. I want to create and post comics regularly, so I need to find a way sustainably pace myself. Behind the scenes, I’ll be working on publishing Q is for Quarantine, and setting up a Lab Mice Etsy shop.

…Anyone else ready for a long post-Inktober nap?
.
.
.
Wait–what do you mean, the holidays are coming???

Gold Rush Apple

Inktober 31. Farm, part 2

Something a little different for the (bonus) final day of Inktober…and a little story.

It turned out that the prompt “farm” coincided with a special trip I made during the last weekend in October, to the family farm where my grandpa grew up. My great-great grandfather started the business in 1922, and Kercher’s Sunrise Orchards is still owned and operated by my cousins, the children and grandchildren of my grandpa’s brother. They celebrated their 100th anniversary in business this year.

Although my grandpa decided to pursue a career in engineering rather than farming, and ended up living far from his family home, it was always an important place for him. He passed away this year, at the age of 92.

I moved across states this summer, and discovered that I now live much closer to the farm. So my husband and I, along with my brother’s family, spent a beautiful, sunny morning at the orchard taking a hay ride, picking apples, choosing pumpkins, and reconnecting with our cousins and their families.

I wanted to make a drawing from the orchard, and the Gold Rush variety apples were glowing in the trees that morning. When first picked, the apples are both sweet and tart, just the way we like them. We picked as many as we could fit in our bag, and I took a photo for later reference.

The trip could not have gone more perfectly, and we hope to visit again…maybe for the 101st anniversary.

Inktober 2022: Week 4

The final week of Inktober 2022. I made it through, and posted every day!

22. Heist

Not even a crumb was left.

Had to get the white-out for this one, but it was fun anyways! And snuck in a little tribute to Angela Lansbury.
Detail from “Booger”
24. Fairy

I don’t know what inflation has done to the going rate for teeth these days, but as a kid, I got a quarter per tooth from the tooth fairy. Though I’m sure a $5 bill is much easier to airlift.
25. Tempting

Da-dum…
Da-dum…

Danger lurks below the serving counter at Amity Island’s bakery.
26. Ego

Sigmund Freud at breakfast, c. 1929.

My time at college was bookended by reading “Civilization and Its Discontents” by Sigmund Freud, in two different history classes. It’s the only one of his works I’ve read, but I came away both times with the impression that Freud was perhaps among the chronically annoyed.
27. Snack

Me making popcorn.
28. Camping

We are just ghosts.
29. Uh-oh

Harley got devoured by the undead
Lurking down in some old wizard’s tomb
You can say you don’t believe in zombies
But that’s how Harley Warren met his doom.

This comic is the brainchild of my husband, who is an H.P. Lovecraft fan. He’s slowly turning me into one, too, by reading me Lovecraft’s short stories, but so far most of my familiarity comes from listening to Solstice Carols (parody Christmas carols) by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (you can look the carols up on youtube).

This comic is drawn from Lovecraft’s short story “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” published in 1920.
Detail of “Uh-oh.”
30. Gear

This idea came about when my husband was reminiscing about his time in the army. When he had all of his gear on, it weighed more than he did (though he did not actually fall over). It reminded me of the old myth that medieval knights needed to be hoisted into the saddle with a crane.

Also, I have no idea how the modern military functions without pockets.
31. Farm

How to make instant applesauce….
31. Farm, part 2

Something a little different for the (bonus) final day of Inktober. This one will have its own blog post.

Inktober 2022: Week 3

The third week of Inktober 2022. Almost there!

15. Armadillo
16. Fowl
Detail of “Fowl”
17. Salty

A post for Dysautonomia Awareness Month! Last year I was diagnosed with POTS, a blood circulation disorder and a form of dysautonomia. POTS patients are often encouraged to include lots of salt in their diets, in addition to drinking lots of water. This helps regulate our heart rate and blood pressure by increasing circulating blood volume.
I suppose this would be one way to eat more salt….
18. Scrape
19. Ponytail

…Or the lack of one.
20. Bluff

Remember the hang-gliding mouse from #3 Bat? Well, please wish him luck.
21. Bad Dog

Perhaps not so much “bad,” as “extra-extra-well done.” Please pass all the ketchup.

On to the final week!

Inktober 2022: Week 2

The second week of Inktober 2022.

8. Match
9. Nest
10. Crabby

…But he was really a soft-shelled crab, and later apologized.
11. Eagle
12. Forget

Based on a moment from a few years ago, when I was in the thick of long covid brain fog.
13. Kind

“What can one person do? One person can prove false the notion that nobody cares.” ~Robert Brault
14. Empty

I’m afraid my husband is often the victim of my faith that there is a little more toothpaste left in the squeezed-out tube.

Inktober 2022: Week 1

Here’s the first week of Inktober! I am having so much fun with the prompts, and am discovering lots of great artists on Instagram.

You can follow my Inktober posts daily on Instagram or Facebook.

1. Gargoyle
2. Scurry
3. Bat
4. Scallop
5. Flame

This is a re-draw of a parody from 2008, based on “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by John Wright of Derby, 1768. My original parody from 2008 is below.
Parody from 2008.
6. Bouquet

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~Albert Camus
7. Trip

October

October starts tomorrow, which means that it is also the beginning of:

1) Inktober

2) Dysautonomia Awareness Month

I’ve wanted to participate in Inktober with Lab Mice for years, and finally decided to go for it. I have a goal to complete all 31 prompts, one each day. Doing this on the heels of finishing Q is for Quarantine probably means that I will be very tired by November 1 (so, probably not doing NaNoWriMo this year).

I will be posting photos of each day’s drawings on Lab Mice’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and will do a weekly post here on the blog.

It’s also Dysautonomia Awareness Month, which will be inspiring a few of my cartoons for the Inktober prompts (like #17, “salty”). I was diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome–a form of dysautonomia) a year-and-a-half ago, and cartooning has helped me keep my spirits up and see the funny side of things while I learn to manage it.

It’s going to be a very busy month!