Alien Romance, the daily comic strip

[gs_silva]

Sammy poses before a mirror with a bright teal cowboy hat on and a thick leather belt with holsters and probably something glittery that I didn't draw because it's in pencil and I wasn't willing to drag it through digital art programs with my laptop failing like it is.


He calls out, "Owen, whaddya think of my costume? I'm a rhinestone cowboy!"

Owen scowls at him. "Do you have to do that now?! There'll be, like, normal people there."

Sammy flounces off, crying, "You don't appreciate me!"

Then what? This is so hard to transcribe on my phone! I can't switch tabs easily with the screen zoomed in, and I can't see it when it's regular sized

Anyway, Sammy goes upstairs to Cathy's apartment. She throws a brightly colored scarf on him to resemble a poncho, which I colored with colored pencils, and they both look pleased with the result.

Comments

Thanks!

[gs_silva]

Both the hat and the scarf/poncho are based on real items. The scarf is mine, and the real one really is that big. And the hat appeared in a photo my friend took of themself - as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to stick it on a character!

Re: Thanks!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's so awesome. :D

I have repeatedly seen T-shirts and thought, "I know exactly which character would wear this."

Re: Thanks!

[gs_silva]

T-shirts, yeah! I'm still on the lookout for t-shirt designs to add into the art. I've been procrastinating. Maurice only owns 4 graphic tees: a 'PXF' shirt (used to be a RUN DMC shirt but I changed it for licensing issues), a shirt that vaguely resembles an early Aerosmith shirt, a Janet shirt (his favorite Jackson) (you can't trademark the name 'Janet' I figure), and 'Something something Christian Bible Camp'. But the other characters need some too! I'm open to suggestions, especially if you have any ideas with local flavor. Since you live roughly in the area my story takes place and might have some ideas.

Re: Thanks!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>But the other characters need some too! I'm open to suggestions, especially if you have any ideas with local flavor. Since you live roughly in the area my story takes place and might have some ideas.<<

Hmm ...

In the 1980s-90s MTV was popular. Band and movie T-shirts have been around for years. If you're concerned about copyright issues, a swath of musical notes is safe.

French words have always appeared on things like scarves and T-shirts.

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/57bdb1dc6a4963ff5fe2218d/57cf52bc176dc4c5a33bb014/57cf540f176dc4c5a33be419/1473207395446/?format=1500w

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zAvcSv_0cHw/U-Gxr737GhI/AAAAAAAAI7Y/8D-lZhoBh0M/s1600/old+navy+french+graphic+tees+jcrew+look+for+less+cheap+budget+bargain+love+amour+adore+lovely+oui.png

https://laurashleys.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/graphic-tees.png

Every state has its tourist focus. Illinois favors Abraham Lincoln, so there has been swag of him since not long after he died. Not far from here is Lincoln Log Cabin and one of the Lincoln & Douglass debate sites. There's a sizable Amish community not far away, and while they don't make T-shirts of themselves, some other people do -- the iconic horse and buggy is most common. Then there's the usual state name or silhouette.

Your gay characters, if they're out of the closet, will almost certainly have T-shirts with a pink triangle and with a rainbow flag. Freedom rings were very popular from the mid-to-late 1980s through the 90s -- a ball-chain with anodized aluminum circles or triangles in rainbow colors.

For college-age people, book references have always been popular. I've still got a "Frodo Lives" T-shirt from college.

Roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons were becoming much more visible in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, with a lot of dragon-themed T-shirts.

Not a T-shirt, but another type of clothes that I really miss because people don't make them anymore -- parachute cloth jogging suits and jackets. Windproof, fairly waterproof, with a thin cozy liner, they were the perfect thing for unpredictable sprig or fall weather. Most were made with several bright, contrasting colors. I have a couple jackets left but I think that's about it.