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Here's your chance
to see where it all
began (and what's been changed)!
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This is an old sketch
of an early By The Tail comic, which, at that time, had a cast
of both humans and animals. Some comics featured only
humans, some featured only animals, and others featured the
two combined. The only humans in the comic who knew
about the anthropomorphic society living in their midst were a
boy named Tommy, and his older brother Reed. In this
comic, Reed is quite pissed off at his car, which he normally
regards with affection. On a related note, this is a
fair representation of the behavior I exhibited with my first
car, also a 1968 Cadillac. ~JMH |
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These are technically
three separate comics, albeit all on the same page. The
first features Ocher and Ivory in a typical situation (he's
trying to get laid, she's trying to get her brain cells to
actually work). The second comic features Melody
commenting on Viper's choice of clothing, failing to realize
his torso is much longer than hers. The last picture on
the page is a rendition of Melody's house, which has undergone
many changes since it's initial concept. The new house
is much larger, and has a slight "Old South" touch to it.
~JMH |
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This comic features
both Ocher and Ebony, and was probably originally drawn in
February (based upon the subject matter). At the time
this comic was drawn, Ebony was very much a serious character,
not given to participate in the numerous sexual adventures
which her housemates often experienced. Since the
original comic was PG-13, any sexual stuff was only hinted at.
Thankfully, Des has changed the comic's direction and flavor
entirely, and the new recipe has resulted in better character
development and funnier jokes. ~JMH |
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Here's the inked
version of the original exterior cover for By The Tail, circa
early 1990's. The kid on the left is Tommy, engaged in a
game of "Knight and Dragon" with Ocher, who is obviously
feigning fear. In retrospect, I can't believe I ever had
these two characters teamed up together. Tommy was,
what, seven years old or so. Ocher was a hell of a lot
older than that, and he was always busy trying to screw the
girls at Melody's. No, that just wasn't a wise
combination at all. After taking over the comic, Des
said the human factor "had to go". I think she chose
well. ~JMH |
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This is the interior
cover of the original By The Tail book, drawn around the same
time as the picture above. Looks like Tommy just got
char-grilled, thanks to an over-reacting dragon.
Nowadays, I'd probably draw the kid similar to how a person
would really look if they had a flame-thrower turned on them.
In the pursuit of realism, I've lost the ability to render
completely unbelievable situations in a comical fashion.
Oh well. As I've stated before, Des draws this comic far
better than I ever could, and I'm glad she's decided to take
it over. ~JMH |
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This is an early
full-color drawing of Ebony, and serves as an excellent
reminder of why I shouldn't try to draw cartoon art. Her
basic form is fairly cartoonish, but the texturing and color
work is too detailed to still fall within the "cartoon"
category. It's a cute picture, nonetheless.
Personally, I think Des has done a great job of transferring
my initial concepts and artwork into a far more pleasing (and
much better balanced) comic, incorporating her own brand of
humor and art style into both the characters and the
storylines themselves. ~JMH |
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Here's an early
full-color drawing of everybody's favorite slut-bunny, Ivory.
I had originally designed many of the By The Tail characters
while still in high school, so I was only able to go as far as
showing the panties (which Ivory doesn't really wear anyway)
peeking out from beneath her very short skirt.
Ditto with the bottoms of the breasts. Although I had
been drawing furry porn for about six years by the time I came
up with By The Tail, I was still not too sure about letting
the rest of the viewing public know about it. Think of
it as self-censoring. ~JMH |
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I think the only thing
that has changed about Melody's physical appearance is her fur
color; she still wears the silk robes and fancy hats, although
only when dressing up. Certain aspects of her
personality still remain unchanged from the original version:
she's a prankster of the first degree, she has a Spanish
heritage, and she's still the boss-lady at Melody's. She
was originally a slightly tragic character, who was haunted by
memories of her younger brother's untimely death (he was hit
by a car when she was supposed to be watching him).
Thankfully, Des left that part out. ~JMH |
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An early sketch showing
Ebony's grandmother Blanche Cole (who, it should be noted,
bears an uncanny resemblance to Slappy Squirrel) posing with
one of her cars, a 1970 Dodge Superbee. I don't know if
Des has any plans to introduce this character into the comic
or not. Since there are no automobiles in By The Tail,
she obviously couldn't have a garage full of nonexistent cars.
Also, since Ebony is now a "working girl" at Melody's, it's
not too likely she'd have any family members stopping by to
see her, least of all her grandmother. ~JMH |
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This is Ocher Pendragon,
the first character I ever drew for By The Tail. His
origins started with a poem I had written in a Creative
Writing class (which only lasted a week or so before being
cancelled). Towering over most of the other characters,
this colorful dragon still gets pushed around by those smaller
than him (most notably the girls from Melody's). His age
was never disclosed, although I suspect he may be far older
than most of the other characters (I don't think this is the
case anymore, though). He still lives at his mom's
place. ~JMH |
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