High Standards

When I was 14-years-old I wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist in the newspapers.

I drew a daily comic strip for my university's student newspaper during my first year there. I worked in magazines as a writer and editor for my first jobs out of school where I was able to publish a few drawings, but nothing serious.

Then, like so many journalism majors during the heady Dot-Com days, I was seduced by the software industry to work as a technical writer and, later, as a software engineer. I kept my sketchbooks going, of course, always thinking to myself, "One day, the time will be right. One day, I won't be such a chicken."

Fast forward 23 years after my college comic strip last ran to today. Laid by me only this morning, I present you, my dear readers, this fresh cartoon.

Postscript

This cartoon was inspired by my real-life chickens, one of whom is really named, "Peggy." The drawing originated in one of my sketchbooks. I scanned the pencil drawing into Adobe Illustrator, where I did the vector line work using a couple brushes I configured to somehow look like ink. I then opened the drawing in Adobe Photoshop, where I added the color, poorly.