WEEK 3: CALVIN AND HOBBES

Imitating Watterson's Comic style

I'm not an illustrator but I tried... I was inspired by Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strips.

Tea Time by Kaitlyn Guerrero

My original comic strip plans:

1. takes out the tea set
2. sets tea set with stuff animals
3. looks satisfied, "perfect."
4. starts putting it back

When creating Tea Time I tried to take Watterson's simplicity in character design and sense of humor. Similar to how Calvin and Hobbes reference childhood experiences like when Calvin is talking to his stuffed animal tiger, Hobbes, I referenced my childhood experience. I don't think I captured Watterson's style or humor completely but in my comic I reference the typical pretend tea party. I never played a pretend tea party correctly. I would take a long time just setting up all the pieces to then put them all back in the box in a VERY specific way. My tea party was actually an OCD organizing game.

When trying to draw my OCD tea time, it was hard to envision what to draw and how to draw it in only 4 panels. There's so many limitations that you have to choose the right poses, actions, and words to convey the whole story or the reader becomes lost right after the first panel.

When reading Calvin and Hobbes comic strips I noticed they utilized dialogue to help put actions into a context or the first 3 panels imply actions were made in between the gutters. The first three panels try to help set up the punchline, providing context for the reader. The final panel creates an unexpected conclusion or punchline. Even though the protagonist is a kid and the context might mimic childhood the topics are sometimes mature. (Example below)

They also play with action panels even though they might have a lot of dialogue in some strips, as seen below. After my attempt to mimic Watterson's comics, I have a bigger admiration for artists that can develop a funny comic with so many restraints in 4 panels.