I love stories. Last week I met a guy who lives next to a farm and he told me about something that nearly scared him to death. He got out of bed, walked into his kitchen and saw a huge eye looking at him through a tiny window over the sink. It turns out a cow had wandered over to his house and looked into the window just as the guy entered the kitchen. Because the window was so small he had no idea it was a cow. All he saw was this monstrous eye.
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As silly as the story is it creates a really funny image in your head, doesn't it? That's how Bubbles stories are created. Bubbles, a Ruby13 Lilith doll, is a sweet redhead with a nice smile who, along with her friend Pookie saves the day in some episodes and in others brings about chaos. So, here's what happens in a typical Bubbles story. There are usually between four to six panels with narration to explain what's going on. The first panels are the "set up" and the last one or two contain the punch line involving either erotic overtones or some sort of explosion. What I'd like to do is show you how the "explosion" panel evolves and then put it into the context of the finished story. |
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This is a stand made of 3/4" plywood and plumbing pipe. I want to use it to pose Bubbles, Pookie & Benny the Dragon for the raw photo. (Click on photos to enlarge) |
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Here's Bubbles in position for the photo. I piled up some soft foam underneath so I could get the legs at the correct angle, then used bungee cords to straighten them. | |
| Next, I set up Pookie and Benny. Since they're stuffed animals I can attach large safety pins to them and then tie them to the stand. |
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I use a photo editing program called "Gimp 2" that can be downloaded free. By using the "smudge" tool the stand and bungee cords can be erased. Next I used circle tools in Windows Paint to set up my "spin" template. Around this I draw smoke circles (wide paint circles with opacity set at around 40%), then draw the white noise balloons on top of everything with some extra straight lines to simulate action. You can see the finished panel below in the cartoon. | |
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I try to shoot for ridiculous story lines and narrate like some wise old uncle telling a bedtime story. Usually the narration will be written first and then the photos are taken to match. The character's expressions are then photoshopped to match as well. OK, so here we go..... Pookie and Benny are having a disagreement over who will get the last cookie. |
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Bubbles does not wish to be involved in such tomfoolery! Stuffed animals can't even digest cookies! | |
| To Pookie and Benny, however, cookies are very serious business and since this is Bubbles' comic strip it's not fair to leave her out of the conflict. |
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| And so the battle begins! Don't worry. Bubbles can hold her own. I can personally attest to that. | ||
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| See? Everything works out well in the end. Bubbles may have lost her dress but she has gained a captive audience to listen to her new song. | ||
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| OK, so there you have it. Bubbles tied up Pookie and Benny with her dress and will now torture them with her singing. For some reason it works. At this writing I'm waiting for the delivery of two new Ruby heads I can draw more expressions from. One has the eyes closed and the mouth open so maybe we'll have Bubbles sing to us next time! | ||
Comments
Wow...!!!
An amazing amount of work and dedication you put into your comics. Two thumbs up!!!
Oh my!
Great stuff, you put so much work into this. Well done :) 8)
Kharn
CoverDoll Publisher To err is human to forgive divine.
Bubbles and Pookie Rock
Beetle,I never expected to come to a website about dolls to find myself laughing at anything. You sure do a good job making me do just that. I love your comics. They give me something else to look forward to everytime I login. Keep up the good work and Thankyou.
Excellent
Excellent work Beetle 8) Your comics always put a smile on my face :) Nice use of the pipe stand. I have used sticks and ropes, even thread to hold clothes to fingers. Also made Snuggles fly that way. Safety pins and small clamps are in my tool box ;)
Thanks!
Thanks for explaining how the stories come into life. This will help everyone who want to make something like that on their own. (Now if I just have enough imagination to come up with a funny story line like that myself ...)