Spilled Milk: The Official Archive

Murray in the Middle

2008-05-16T00:36:00.000-07:00

I don't post here very often, which makes me quite sad. This used to be a huge hobby of mine, and I just don't take the time to make it happen, anymore.

I'm always writing and thinking up and sketching out strip ideas, though. That reflex, it turns out, is still there...and it comes out when I'm bored and have a pen(cil) and paper at my disposal. Which is often.

This strip explores the feelings of our pets when faced with the recent addition of our son Bryan.

Murray sure was mopey, tired and jealous, early on. 2 months later, he's...well, a bit better. Still wants more attention, but that's just Murray being Murray.

Bailey has become a serene little critter over the past 6 months or so. He's really mellowed, to the point where I don't think his younger, scheming, evil ways are really where his character's at, right now. Bailey is a wise, old, long-eared curmudgeon. Finally, he's come into his own.

And Bryan? He's awesome. I'm sure he'll pop up in future strips...if I ever get around to posting more, that is!

Thanks for looking.

It's Only Fair

2007-10-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

It's a baby strip! There are are more strips on the way, so check back, soon!

I wrote and drew this one off the top of my head.

They really do have a Turkey Tetrazzini flavor.

Yum-o...

Taking Matters into Her Own Hands

2007-09-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post something, and have been doodling a lot lately without actually finishing any new strips. This one probably wouldn't fit into any syndicator's strip measurements...

...though it could be a Sunday strip. Maybe.

Anyway, this is the World Wide Web, where you can post your own comic strip in any way you damn well please.

Here's one I scribbled down, tonight. Hope you get the joke that I'm fiercely opposed to President Bush and conservative politics in general.

I should've had Actual Melissa (TM) write the text, though. Just to really hit home that "this really happened and she really drew it" vibe.

Anyway, enjoy. I'm writing baby strips all the time...and I wish I had a tape recorder on me at all times so I could make strips out of Real Life Conversations (TM) between Miss and me...but there's no constant tape rolling, and spare time is increasingly more rare as I'm getting old and tired. Forgive me, I'll update again as soon as I can.

B-I-N-G-rrrrRRRRMP!

2007-08-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

A quick, oddly-colored strip, once again based on an actual conversation between Melissa and me.

Just so happened, I was already doodling her at the computer when she started the dialogue...

...so, enjoy!

Anyone hoping for a baby-related strip, they're on the way. Anyone NOT hoping for one of those, you lucked out! I'll try to break them up a little once they DO kick in.

Murray Turns 3!

2007-08-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to commemorate Murray's 3rd birthday with a fun strip, featuring some prospective party guests of his upcoming Birthday Luau.

He does sneeze a lot, so the joke was pretty easy to figure out. I had an alternate punchline, which featured Cartoon Tony saying, "Well. Then. This is yours" to Cartoon Murray, and the little birthday dog responding with either, "I got my wish!" or "Best. Birthday. Ever."

Melissa, when shown the sketches, liked the original punchline (the one you see above), because it's silly that anyone would still offer the dog booger-covered cake to guests.

This one was hard to lay out, because I wanted to fit in a lot of guest toons. If you think it's you, it's probably you. If you aren't in there...well, I just didn't get around to doodling you. Sorry.

Below is a better look at the original sketches of the guests. Some are way off or too large in comparison to the others...and had to be touched-up while putting the strip together.

Enjoy!

That's My Baby

2007-07-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty old strip. I finally thought of a punchline for Cartoon Tony that made me laugh after well over a year, something so simple and immature that I mustn't have been trying very hard all this time.

Seriously, though, like how it turned out and want to reaffirm that this is not necessarily a reflection of actual recent goings-on at our apartment.

Check out the original, with Cartoon Melissa's lines cut off a bit, below:

Can You Ear Me Now?

2007-07-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

The release of Apple's new must-have ultimate personal electronic pleasure device is all over the lazy newsmedia hungry for an easy, dumb story.

Some of that coverage focuses on supposed "bugs," but this gizmo does so much stuff it's hard for anyone to completely hate on it.

Still, how much is TOO much?

The first punchline I wrote for delivery by Cartoon Tony in the final panel is, "I'M CALLING THE COPS, NOW!" I had a tough time deciding, but...hope you like what's there, either way!

Original sketch for this strip posted below:

Mystery Solved

2007-06-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Long overdue, my absence from Spilled Milk is finally explained! Beware...THE RASPBARON!

It's easy to tell I did this entirely in Photoshop, without a pencil/ink version first. So...sorry, no early draft scans or other bonus art this time around.

Anyway, enjoy the strip! Let me know if you're interested in seeing more, because I'm easily distracted without proper motivation.

No Barking

2007-03-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

This strip was originally drawn a long time ago. It's probably over a year old, maybe nearing 2.

Cartoon Tony is younger, hence I put the part back in his hair. Murray is just a puppy in this strip, and Bailey's still...well, Bailey.

Said rabbit didn't take to his new little brother very well. In fact, coming up on 3 years later, we're just now reaching the point where the two are semi-cool together (Murray likes Bailey, but comes on WAY too strong for a skittish bunny). They'll hang out a bit and tease each other while Bailey's cage is open, now...so, that's good.

BUT...back in the day, Bailey was still the sadistic, jealous little bastard I portray him as now. And the chance for him to get young Murray into trouble was too good to pass up, even if it means somehow gaining the ability to bark!

I was doing a series focusing on their interaction, and this one isn't bad. Melissa loved this strip, as did a bunch of her friends and co-workers, who were flipping through my sketchbook at some point.

Looking for some way to get back into cartooning shape, I went back in time for a classic Spilled Milk moment. Check out the original sketch that led to this strip below. Did I make a mistake by taking a lot of the detail out of the background? Originally, it was set in a kitchen, on tile, and with a big window in the background that would allow for play with lighting/shading.

. . .

2007-03-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

Ugh. This site is so DEAD right now.

It's depressing.

That little cartoon me should explain exactly how I feel about neglecting my comic duties, lately.

Plus, I was kind of down when I drew it. So...that comes through.

O.J. Goes Bad (Hm, Wait...)

2007-02-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

This one was done months ago, when you couldn't flip past a cable news channel (or that stuff the FOX Propaganda Channel tries to pass off as "News") without hearing about bloody Radical Clerics causing trouble over in the sandier part of the world. The term really got to me, hearing it over and over again. I'm all for people doing what makes them happy, but when you start harming others or restricting their freedoms in some way, you LOSE the right to get away with doing whatever it is YOU want...and you deserve to be hurt BACK. I must take this opportunity to, once again, earnestly thank the Bush Administration for putting us in direct contact with many more of these kinds of people. (Cough.)

Anyway, I think I was on a very odd kick, where I was doing one-off strips that didn't follow any plot whatsoever, and just kind of stood alone. I was also toying with commenting on current events more, but in a less topical kind of way. And, I was taking Cartoon Tony in weird, new directions, including the addition of his ability to talk to inanimate objects in a rather unrealistic manner. Often, this ability manifests itself in the form of...that's right...Talking Food (TM).

Sometimes, I wish I were on some serious, hard drugs. Because then, it might be easier for me to explain the dopey things I write. I'm not, mind you. Nor do I tend to hear food talk. My guess is that Cartoon Tony's food-talking is probably just his imagination, too.

It is funny to consider what exactly this juice hopes to accomplish through its ultimate sacrifice. It's another of those "Why is Murray the mommy?" moments.

I always did have a very overactive imagination. So, it's possible that I was looking to bring out that childish, carefree side of myself that didn't mind having a conversation with a teddy bear or cookie or shoe or imaginary cartoon character running around on my desk during school to help me pass the time through boring classes.

Man, I used to dream up little scenarios for popular (at the time) characters, then "pretend" interact with them or just allow them to play out their adventures like movies. I used to draw little dungeons/mazes/obstacle courses in my notebooks, and then take some figment of my imagination through them, all the while ignoring the yammering of the teacher at the front of the room.

In 5th grade, I finally got called-out for doodling all the time during class. It was an English teacher, who then later told me that my chronic doodling and daydreaming must not have been entirely bad...because I was still getting A's in class consistently. After that after-class encounter, I don't recall ever being hassled again for doodling.

Anyway, this strip's weird. But I liked it enough to have kept it around all this time and I'm using old material to save time while I gear up for the start of the actual, continuous storyline of Spilled Milk. Below is the original sketch I adapted into the strip you just read. Note the original format I'd intended for Spilled Milk's panels...they first one's all little and stylish (for no reason), and that black box behind everything serves as a kind of frame-type thing.

Note, the baseball bat and beaver thing. That blurred-out box above the beaver was a logo for the TV station I work for.

And, yes, I did just say "box" and "beaver." Hee.

Stripping at Work

2007-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

A common (and largely undeserved) knock on my department is that we do nothing and spend all day goofing around on the Internets. I think this misconception springs from the fact that we are fun people who do something that is inherently creative and, indeed, pretty fun...

...while most in different parts of the building toil away in misery all day, wallowing in their own crapulence.

Now, everyone gets their Smoke Break Time (TM), but the idea that our entire department is just screwing around on MySpace all day is absolutely absurd. To our credit, most of the people who complain about us are terrible and should be canned, anyway.

Still, this is my ode to that falsehood.

It's also, ironically, the first strip I was able to create entirely, start-to-finish, without the aid of my work computer. Thanks to Joe for the assist on that.

There's a slight difference in the look of the strip. I put more work into the background this time around...but also had to touch up a lot of lines before posting the strip because they came out really "thin" and colors tended to bleed together a bit. Chalk that up to the fact that I'm still getting used to having a modern-era, fully-functional verison of Photoshop at my disposal.

Hey, and the other character is loosely based (cough) on my co-worker, Josh. So...welcome to Tony comic lore, pal!

Stand-In Cartoonist

2007-02-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I've been a little behind in posting new, weekly strips. Mea culpa.

Luckily, my darling misses has stepped in and created this delightful single-panel strip entitled "Boys in Snow!"

You're no doubt familiar with our pets, Murray and Bailey. (If not, read one of the previous strips, newbie!) Well, this edition features our little guys in a situation literally RIPPED from the local news headlines -- it's snowing out.

You know, I work with newspeople. I should slap them when passing in the hallway more often. For SHAME, hype-mongers. For shame.

Well, enjoy my girl's Spilled Milk debut!

February Sweeps Bombshell!

2007-02-06T07:07:00.000-08:00

I've been busy over the past several days and couldn't get this posted last week...but, better late than never. Right?

I had this grand idea of making my February strips into absurd stunts in honor of TV's February Sweeps. Here's one, and the inspiration isn't hard to figure out.

The little monitor behind Bailey's chair, because it's probably too small now for anyone to tell, reads "WHY AM I THE MOMMY?" above Murray's picture and "SAYS HE'S NOT THE FATHER, LOVES RAISINS" above Bailey's picture.

Why IS Murray the "mommy" in this sequence, anyway?

Eh, who knows? It's SWEEPS, BABY! Nothing has to make sense. Just enjoy the shocking twists yet to come here on the old comic site.

Oh, and another small detail from that final panel -- Bailey's full name is apparently "Bailbert Bunny."

Heh.

This Time, It's On Purpose

2007-01-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

It usually happens when I'm drawing her in a new pose or something. Most commonly, it's when I start doodling Cartoon Melissa from the body up, not from the head down. The scale is off a little, but I don't really notice it until it's too late...

Melissa is adorable, and completely un-fat. However, this conversation's happened several times in Real Live (TM), and I welcome my cute girl to the strip officially by lovingly poking fun at her through that hideous blob in Cartoon Tony's doodle in the final panel.

Get a good look at that thing.

It's terrifying. In fact, here's a better look.

Yes, I am a big Ren & Stimpy fan. Why do you ask?

The punchline kind of hinges on just how repulsive I could make the exaggerated, ultra-chubby Melissa monster. I really thought about how to carry out that final panel...but just went with what I have. I wanted Melissa's reaction, but also to show off the charicature. This meant either doing some weird perspective thing, or actually making the picture Cartoon Tony's holding up relatively close to scale with Melissa's head. I went with the latter.

Turned out okay, though.

Hey, and why didn't I include Murray in the background of the second or third panels? Hmm...laziness? Forgetfulness? I'll white wash the issue and just say I wanted to focus on the two major human characters and the Fat Melissa Doodle instead. Murray would've been too distracting.

(Cough.)

Yeah...that's the ticket!

Why Not? (Take 3)

2007-01-17T14:35:00.000-08:00

I received a slight nudge from my Lead Comic Tester to tone down the language.

He and/or she took offense to "whipped it out," saying it made the character less sweetly innocent and the punchline less surprising/cute.

He/She/It wants cartoon Tony to come across as an incorrigible goofball who is prone to wacky tangents spawned from his overactive imagination.

I just wrote that line originally and it made me chuckle.

Here's the third and final attempt at this strip. Nothing I make is ever perfect, and certainly no art is ever truly finished.

Just messing around, here.

I haven't even begun the actual STORY strips, yet!

Keep the feedback coming, people. And enjoy this kinder, gentler version of "Why Not?"

Why Not? (Take 2)

2007-01-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, I couldn't live with myself having posted a half-assed comic strip.

See the original and find out why I re-touched it in the post below.

I added quite a bit...not the least of which is shading and the spots on my boxers I neglected the first time around.

Why Not?

2007-01-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

You have to admit, dogs are pretty lucky with that whole "the world is my toilet" thing. Sure, things like plumbing and toilet paper and Sudoku make going to the bathroom an experience...

...but sometimes, you just gotta' get down to business and GO.

At times like these, I'm often waiting for Murray to sniff out the perfect pee or poo spot...and although I've never given into the urge to "water the bushes" under cover of night, the thought has crossed my mind.

I don't think the second panel quite worked out like I wanted it to. What I should've done is added a fourth panel, and made the third into a "take" shot, where I'm actually considering it. Second panel's facial expression would have to be more "joking," and then there's the "Hmm...wait a second!" moment...

...and the same payoff.

Pretend I did it right, and hopefully enjoy what's there, anyway!

Isn't peeing cartoon Murray cute? I worked on that for a while.

Hare Peace

2007-01-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

There's an old, running joke about how I "hate" Bailey and wish to let him out the backdoor, never to be heard from again. It's a mean-spirited joke, to be sure, but let's get one thing straight: I don't actually HATE Bailey.

He's just a miserable little monster who gets on my nerves sometimes, mainly due to the putrid stench that arises from his green potty almost immediately after every changing. This rabbit can really unleash some hideous, toxic substances, and that toilet doesn't stay "clean" long.

Bail used to be almost kind of halfway cool, before Murray came along.

Now, he just grunts and thumps and sheds his way through a grumpy, poo-filled life...awaiting his next offering from what I can only assume he sees as his evil, murderous "food apes."