It's all fun and games until the creep clown shows up.
The Japanese fleet is getting closer and closer to my harbor, too. Should I be concerned?
It's past time to be nervous and should seriously be considering an exit strategy. This got used in a recent comic, in fact-- you may recognize it ...
2024-05-27 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
"Do you even lift, bro..?"
So this is a bit dated, I admit, because the Iran-Israel exchange happened a few weeks ago. But I am interested less in the actual exchange as it happened, and more interested in the repercussions as time goes on.
Yes, this isn't a post getting philosophical about what military life is like, this time I'm jumping into some actual analysis of events.
In an Intelligence shop, it is common for the analysts to put together briefings and deliver updat...
2024-05-24 15:59:00 +0000 UTC View Post
What does she talk about? Above: the raw pencils. Raw, I say; raw!
I don't often show this intermediate point between pencils and "clean" inks. But I frequently just have a bunch of messy lines running across each other.
Then it becomes almost like a coloring book.
That's an idea! Would anyo...
2024-05-22 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Don't be unfair!
Farmer's Daughter ain't foolin' around, either.
The Admiral isn't going to put up with no bull, either.
On the other hand, President Dog isn't so uptight and might be an improvemen...
2024-05-20 16:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
If you've been on the internet at all the last few weeks, you've probably run across the "Bear in the Woods" meme running around. The premise is that a woman walking alone in the woods would rather encounter a bear than a random man. The implication is, a lot of women see a random man as potentially more problematic than a ginormous bear.
To be a bit of a buzzkill about the whole thing, let's remember that most wildlife wants to avoid humans as much as possible. They've pretty much lear...
2024-05-17 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Looks like SSG Specter has something very decisive to say about a subject the ladies are talking about.
Cleaned up inks! Is he agreeing? Is he instructing? I he mansplaining something? Stay tuned!
I don't do a lot of close-ups so this was kind of fun to tackle. Although I did get his eyes too clo...
Nothing like a good hoard of treasure stashed away for retirement. But if it is buried on an island, is your money truly working for you?
Who cares? It's time to celebrate with some beans.
Make sure someone doesn't help themselves to your treasure, though.
2024-05-13 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Sorry I missed WIP Wednesday-- the week snuck up on my faster than I thought, and I even had stuff ready. It's been weird bouncing back and forth between my day job and my military training as we get ready for deployment...
Anyhow, let's take a look at... what the heck is happening here..?
Ohhhh-kaaayyy. Um, Dance Dance Revolution, maybe?
2024-05-10 15:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Scary things happen in the woods! Be careful!
Think Sasquatch is scary? You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Call him "Sasquatch" or "Bigfoot", either way... it can be scary.
Remember, push comes to ...
2024-05-06 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
In 2004, the movie "Mean Girls" came out. And in it is the line, "Get in, loser, we're going shopping!" Since then, the "Get in, loser, we're ______" line has become a meme, with all sorts of options inserted as needed.
Recruiters frequently stalk college and high-school campuses looking for likely prospects. Given the cost of higher education these days, campuses are a good place to look. They will entice people with benefits for "free college". The cost of college is definitely offset...
2024-05-03 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
So this will be a single-panel comic. I have taken a template for a 3-panel comic and drawn right across the gutter of the top two panel to create one large panel that takes 2/3rds of the page. Usually, for a single-panel comic I will do this, or, combine the top two panels of a 4-panel template.
Since these get scanned in as pencils, I then make a layer and do my inks, and eliminate the bottom layer with the pencils, so the drawn-over lines and sketchy pencil marks disappear, leaving ...
2024-05-01 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
It's all fun and games until the nerd snaps.
Sometimes you're just too tired to snap.
And sometimes it isn't the nerd who snaps. *Everyone* has their breaking point, you know.
And somet...
2024-04-29 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
When someone joins the Army, they talk to a recruiter and pick a job that they want. The old days, of the Army randomly choosing one person to be a cook and one person to be a rifleman while another becomes a mechanic, hasn't been the case for a long time. You pick a job you want and you go to Basic Training --frequently at one post-- and then on to AIT, or Advanced Individual Training, which many times is at a completely different post.
Fort Huachuca is the place for Intelligence and ...
2024-04-26 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
SSG Specter reveals how he got involved in Intelligence. Apparently it is a slightly awkward story.
After the pencils come the inks, of course-- all digitally.
Then the "paint bucket color" is applied, super easy.
2024-04-24 15:59:01 +0000 UTC
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I've heard that making them is more fun than having them, so be careful.
This won't end well.
This will end up even worse.
...aaaannd this is how things end for you, young trooper.
Unti...
2024-04-22 16:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Time to welcome aboard some new faces!
Wayne Gilcoine has moved up from a Free follower to a full-fledged Private! Meanwhile, Fox Whitworth has joined as a Free member!
Yes, Patreon allows for Free memberships! You can "try on" a membership and see if you like it! As a result I try to make more of my posts each month available to all members-- frequently Doodles and such, but also WIP Wednesdays and sometimes sneak peeks at future comics or other projects.
I have a pretty...
2024-04-19 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Uh-oh, looks like someone is having a flashback to Basic Training!
Ohhh, man, I can feel the heat through the computer screen!
Paint Bucket color applied... the easy part!
Yup, it is a flashback to t...
You have contacted the spirits. We are either away from the ether, or busy. Please leave a message and we will return your call.
Now you're seeing a completely different sort of spirits.
Coffee Dog is also seeing the sounds and hearing the colors.
2024-04-15 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Juni is schooling Emma on the darkness of the PT Belt Era.
Digital inks and clean-up! Emma is clearly in disbelief.
Initial colors with the "paint bucket" tool, or as I call it, the "splash color phase".
Getting t...
And don't let no one tell you not to!
Adopt whatever persona you like to cultivate.
Um, yeah, you can embrace your Little Sharkmaid, too.
Okay, maybe we have to call it at "indulging your inner hay...
2024-04-08 15:59:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I really did have a young troop ask me "what's with these jokes about PT belts?" and I had to take a moment and realize that... yeah, I haven't seen many lately.
I was recently at Ft. Huachuca for a month and noticed surprisingly few PT belts in use --there were some being used, for sure, but fairly sensibly, as these things go. Ft. Huachuca is an A.I.T. (advanced individual training) post, which is one step removed from Basic Training. And not just any AIT post, but one for Intelligen...
2024-04-05 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh dear god why?
"Oh, no, I don't have enough to pay rent! What can I do?"
"We can come up with an... alternative"
Everyone else at Monopoly... O o
The strain hurts my brain.
Now explai...
2024-04-01 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The pencil originals for "dark times". Explain your weird NCO humor to the young 'un, please!
Cleaned up digital inks.
Emma is clearly perplexed by something the older, more experienced ones find amusing. Probably some "back in my day" moment that Emma has no connection to. All will be expl...
2024-03-27 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Doodled during That Time. Nobody wants the Find Out phase of this kind of stuff.
Above: "It'll be OK". Maybe one way or another.
A "somal rishon" (technically it translates as "first sergeant" but the way they use it it means "staff sergeant") asking "Why?"
2024-03-25 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Another one is getting ready for posting! Juni and Emma are sharing thoughts again.
Cleaning up the inks...
Had to work on the computer monitor a bit. I also liked how Juni and Emma turned out.
Be careful or you'll have an accident, like above.
You can always "Circle-X" a major fault "just for now" and make something mission-ready even though it is unsafe.
Our maintenance reports allow us to report that a piece of equipment is unsafe to use if we put an "X" on the report next to the discovered fault. But if the commander decides to use the equipment anyway, it can be "circled" and...
When I started writing this comic and creating the visual part of it, Putin's "interview" with Tucker Carlson was still relatively recent. That went pretty much like the script from "Airplane": "I need to know everything about this situation from the beginning!" "Well, first the Earth cooled, and then the dinosaurs came..."
Vladimir Putin, professional horse's ass; by the time this posts publicly, the Russian elections in March should be a done deal, and I can guarantee that no matter w...
2024-03-15 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Remember "Vox Noctem"? It is going to be an anthology of short stories based on a theme, produced by Random Coyote Productions, LLC. I just wanted to show how the project is going so far, featuring one of the stories that has been submitted for eventual publication!
This amazing, funny, 5-page story was written by Lora Volkert and illustrated by Mariah Larson. These are just a handful of panel...
2024-03-13 15:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Don't you hate having to work in a toxic environment?
It's always the same cast of characters at the bottom of things, too.
Even the reactor is critical. Ho Ho Ho!
Now you've made Vladimir P...
2024-03-11 16:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
What are Emma and Juni talking about? Something happened in the world and they are contextualizing it. Let's watch it develop.
Pencils get turned into digital inks, and we're off to the races!
Getting the color in there big-time. And as always, I add the camo in phases so that the patterns don't ...
2024-03-06 16:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post