Bad Conscience - Early Work

The drawing that got it all started. I needed a drawing for a presentation, and I had been toying with these two characters a little bit, so I put them together, and it was good.

My first drawing of Mark, with Kif and Tif added later. I spent a long time coming up with names for them: here they are labelled "Geek" and "Reek". Kind of funny, but I thought they were a bit too literal. Who in real life would go around calling themselves that? So I kept trying.

This is the first drawing I made of Ariadne. She's got kind of sharp lines, which are meant to capture her personality. You'll note that she was originally named Persephone. I was taking a class in Greek mythology at the time.

Most of the comic's characters started out as sketches, and took on the personality of that sketch. Lonnie had the unfortunate luck of being drawn like a raving loonie, so he is one. Hmm...loonie, Lonnie; Lonnie, loonie. I wonder if I did that on purpose?

Miller is quite the tough. At first I named him Percy, because I think it's funny to give big, tough guys wimpy names, but then I realized that Lonnie already has a wimpy name, and I don't want to set a precedent. I actually like Miller's new name a lot better.

Penelope hasn't actually appeared in the strip, but she might later on, as a girlfriend to Mark. In the full picture, you might notice the vague outlines of two good consciences, which helps to explain why Penelope puts up with Mark. She received her name before Ariadne, because it seemed very appropriate for her. This choice led to the Greek Mythology naming convention for Mark's girlfriends.