Elizabeth: Browse The Strips

Wednesday August 11, 2021

Lynn's Comments: The name "Enjo" was for my 5th grade home economics teacher. She was great! The Enjo characters were based on a Japanese-Canadian family I knew in North Bay, Ontario. The scenes inside the Enjo house came from the Masuda's, as did some of the story line ideas. Asking for their help was both fun and educational.

Wednesday August 25, 2021

Lynn's Comments: The Patterson kids were now starting to have lives outside of the home. This meant adding new characters: friends, teachers and acquaintances—some of whom needed to be "fleshed out" and given substantial roles.

Friday August 27, 2021

Lynn's Comments: A better punch line would have been if the woman on the left says, "Why do kids do that?" and the other one answers, "It's a mating call." Crafting the dialogue is important. I should have noticed this before I finished the strip. It would have been better as a Sunday page!

Thursday September 9, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Around this time, the newspapers began to colourize the daily strips and often without consulting the cartoonists' own colour charts. This meant mismatched hair colours and different clothing in different papers. One newspaper colourist made the Miss Edwards character Black, which made a change back to caucasian rather difficult. Readers in that area appreciated seeing a Black teacher in the mix. Eventually, correct colour palettes were established, but not before some interesting errors had been made!

Tuesday September 14, 2021

Lynn's Comments: This cartoon shows how "motion" can be suggested by not having the wheels of a vehicle touch the ground. If you were to take a piece of tracing paper, trace the outline of the car and move the image down so that the wheels touch the curve of the road, you would instantly see the car standing still. A shadow underneath adds to the illusion. This is one little trick of the trade!

Saturday September 18, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Candace was an outstanding character to work with. She had a raw edge and an independence the other girls admired. Underneath, she had a troubled soul. I never had the opportunity to give her the spotlight and show readers what I knew about her. Again, the restriction to one statement a day made some stories impossible.

Tuesday September 21, 2021

Lynn's Comments: My brother and I caught our dad on his balcony, smoking—after he swore that he had quit. He put the cigarette behind his back and Alan said, "Don't look now, Dad...but your elbow's on fire." Alan has a great sense of humour! So many cartoons were based on real comments and real situations.