Here's a little sneek preview sketch of Trixie on my Characters page. She's inspiring me with all kinds of comic strip ideas, it's almost hard for me to finish this summer's comics without her!

I did a survey on facebook on whether or not people would appreciate my comics in colour more than black and white. Most people said yes to colour, some didn't care about the colour as much as the content, and a couple people had good reasons for preferring black and white. 
    I decided to do colour, just 'cus it's fun. Except for the ones printed in the daily newspapers, of course. This time the colour is a little more subdued. I coloured my comics a few years ago just for my website and looking back, they are a little tacky with their bright pink or orange backgrounds. I did some research and I really like the way Robb Armstrong's comic "Jumpstart" is coloured, so I took a mental note about why his colours work and mine didn't. Now I understand and know what works. I've got a lot to learn about colour still.

    I woke up the other day and layed in bed thinking about my comic. I was wondering if the average person who reads comics, likes my comic. What could I do to make it appeal to more people? Feedback is rare. Most of the feedback I do get is positive, from people who are aquaintances and so I can't really know if they're being honest or just nice. Years ago, one close friend told me that her and her Mom are a bit freaked out by Commander Broccoli, particularly his helmet and antennaes. She's often encouraged me to try a comic strip about a family, or do a comic strip featuring my stuffed bear, Derry. I started wondering if a lot of other people had a problem relating to CB as well. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment for me below.
    Though I do take her feedback into consideration, I don't think I can ever totally let go of Commander Broccoli and start fresh. He has been in my life for the last 20 years and I have hundreds of comic strips of him. It's like he's a part of who I am. 
    All this wondering led me to the idea of adding a new character to my comics... a little girl named Trixie. You can see a sketch of her on my facebook group http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/241303862565906

    Ok, maybe not exactly a deluge, but I was pretty excited to have 4 comic ideas in less than two hours! I would be quite happy to have multiple comic ideas more often, then I could consider doing a daily comic strip. 
    The reason I got all these ideas is because my family wanted to go to my brothers cabin for the weekend. I said I couldn't go because I had to do my comic strip. They asked if I would go if I came up with an idea, then I could draw it at the lake. I said yes, but they better pray. So, they all started praying for me to get ideas. I got one idea for each person who prayed! Coincidence? No.

It's only the beginning of July and already its been an amazing summer for me! We've gone from lake to lake and then back to the lake again (in one weekend haha). I even got a nice tan for the first time in years. I would seriously be satisfied if autumn started already. More great weather is just more heaven for me, especially since I'm able to do my comics outside and enjoy the weather at the same time. What I'm really amazed at is there are so few mosquitos! Yay! I hope your summer is as amazing as mine. Enjoy every minute!