The Tremblars

The Tremblars are a dysfunctional family nonpareil. They will be appearing on this Tumblr with startlingly irregular frequency.

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Mijn Schoonouders

Means "My In-laws" in Dutch. I made this comic as part of a present to "Pieter's" parents for their upcoming wedding anniversary-slash-birthday. And since I don't think anyone from their side of the family follows this tumblr, then I guess I won't be spoiling anything.

I really should re-do this comic. My brushpen skills only came back to me when I was inking the eighth panel. On the bright side, since I didn't want to risk messing up the textures, I picked up my trusty Derwent watercolour pencils and rediscovered an affinity for washes. But that doesn't mean I didn't get to mess up panels 2 and 3. Sigh.

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Suzie Tremblar Summons the Goblin King

Like any girl who was young in the 80s, my adolescent years were spent basically wanting to be Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth. Now my fondest fantasies about Jareth no longer involve living with him in his castle beyond the Goblin City.

Credit for this comic rightfully belongs to my best friend and fellow Labyrinth fanatic Michiko, who made this suggestion after I'd complained too many times about never having the time to get a haircut.

So this is dedicated to her along with our fellow besties Roma, Almira and Rhea who could all recite "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered," by heart.

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The Great Werdini

The bags under Suzie's and Pieter's eyes are going to become a permanent feature.

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Eye of the Beholder

I should probably explain that Werner only turns into a werewolf whenever he falls asleep or throws a tantrum.

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Werner Most Wonderful Suzie and Pieter welcome a new member to their family, Werner Tremblar-Ding.

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The Frenzied Fetus

If you follow me on Twitter, the jig was probably way up several months ago. Also, I kinda alluded to this with the whole 'Wereling' thing.

"Write what you know," as the old adage goes. Its also a convenient excuse for me to blur the lines between reality and the world of the Tremblars. Apart from the kicking, what they don't tell you is that being pregnant magnifies certain personality traits - like being a klutz. So I had to use way more white-out on these pages than usual. Also bending over a drafting table when you're about to go into labour any day now is not the most comfortable thing, so the third update could stay as pencils. We'll see.

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Wife Vs. Bed

Its been a while but I've got two updates hot off the scanner, including this one. The next strip should go some ways to explaining why I haven't been posting as often as I should.

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The Curse of the Were-Pieter

I'm willing to bet that the world has been saved from abject domination by a timely-placed slap or two. But seriously, if you take away the physical violence this is pretty much what passes for conversation in the Tremblar-Ding household.

Bonus: In case you're wondering what a Wereling (a.k.a. your future overlord) would look like - especially one that inherited Suzie's baby dungarees and love of chocolate milk - here's a little sketch.

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The Sexy Prince

The first time I saw this poster I blurted out, "Not so Petit Prince then, eh?" 

It really isn't THAT explicit, but it's just jarring to see something that had a special, hallowed place in your childhood sexed up for public consumption - as I'm sure this guy found out.

However Montréalers are pretty blasé about this sort of thing. I don't think anyone ever covered their kids' eyes, much less blink when the David Beckham H&M ads were plastered all over the Metro.

Some notes:

What the Little Prince's Fox would have looked like in real life

Here's the fine photo I used as a reference for the Metro station 

Kate Beaton on David Beckham's...balls.

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The Ballad of Pieter and Suzie: A St. Patrick's Day story

I must be on some kind of roll because this is the second comic I've done that mentions a dude with a shepherd's crook and pointy hat. Anyway, this strip is a little late for St. Patrick's Day so I had to bring it out on April Fools'.

So happy anniversary to "Pieter" - just one year shy of being together for a decade.

Some notes:

I took some liberties as usual. The trip was up and down to Rotovegas (err, I mean Rotorua) not Cape Reinga.

Auckland nightlife has changed a LOT in almost ten years - probably as a direct result of one too many people being hurled into dumpsters.

Yes, Suzie finds nothing sexier than a responsible driver who has a decent chance of winning this competition.

People look the same to me whether they're kissing or whistling - I call this Groo Face.

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Suzie Tremblar is Late to the Cloakie Party

Ah the perils of being a late adopter! Another short comic to make up for the recent lack of updates.

Like I said in Hash Wednesday, this is a break from the longer, more serious comics I've been doing. So yuk it up because its going to take a turn toward the bleak as we revisit Suzie's mom Teresa two strips from now.

If you're wondering who Sinterklaas is, he's the Dutch St. Nicholas and the original Santa Claus.

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Hash Wednesday

This is the first of my shorter format comics which will range from 3 to 6 panels. Naturally, they're faster to get done than the regular 12-panel pages - AND they're a way for me to still update this Tumblr while juggling full-time work. I also consider them a nice break between comics that deal with more serious topics.

This strip is lovingly dedicated to the lady at St. Patrick's Basilica who made sure that everyone's Ash Wednesday cross was prominently visible no matter how they wore their hair. I saw several parishioners pulling their hats down tightly over their heads afterwards.

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The Li'l Black Box of Deceit

This strip was written before Quantum Could've Beens but it took a while for me to get around to pencilling and inking it. It's my belated gift to all the mothers, dreamers and anyone out there who's ever had high hopes but ultimately found that life doesn't quite work out just like in the movies.

To be honest, I think my work here is not as refined as I would like it to be. I'm still trying to find a balance between speed and finesse - I usually take three to four days to ink a comic because I stop whenever the quality begins to slip. I didn't have the luxury with this one because I'm starting full time work next week and I wanted to finish it quickly.

Anyway, even if you're not a fan of old movies, you might do well to at least see some clips from these classics to see what Teresa was on about:

Love is a Many Splendored Thing - with Jennifer Jones and classic toyboy William Holden

Gilda - with Rita Hayworth (whose life was also the basis for the film The Barefoot Contessa.)

A Place in The Sun - with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift (you won't find a film where either of them were more beautiful)

And yes I know that was a soap opera parody, but there actually was a long-running comedy series in the Philippines called John en Marsha. 

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Suzie Tremblar's Quantum Could've Beens

I had this dream once: I woke up and went about doing the usual morning stuff until I realised that I wasn't in my own room. It was very similar to my bedroom except that the walls were red and my headboard was facing the wrong direction. I thought that I must still be dreaming so I decided to go back to bed and hopefully wake up in the right place. When I woke up a few seconds later, I found myself in yet another room that was startlingly similar but also not quite like my own. This went on and on until I began to despair if I would ever wake up to my own familiar existence. When I finally did, I couldn't help but wonder what if I'd just gone along with it? What if I'd chosen instead to wake up in one of the other lives I'd been given such a tantalizing (and terrifying) glimpse of?

This of course has nothing to do with Quantum Physics, but if you want to watch the programme that inspired this strip, you can see parts of it on Youtube or read the transcript of the show on the Elegant Universe website.

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Les Aventures du Duvet Girl

Or 'Fille du Couette' if you like. I feel like I'm slacking off because I have two Tremblars pages sitting on my desk and I can't decide which one to finish. So for now, I've uploaded a little sketch commemorating my first winter in Montréal...and how I jumped up and down like a five year old when I saw a flurry of snow drifting outside my window for the first time. Permit me also to say that I am now a convert to 'manteaus en duvet'. Nothing else keeps you warm in sub-zero temperatures AND makes you feel like you've brought your bed along with you. Super-sweet.

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Oui Prime Minister!

What is it about Canadian politicians? There was geeky-sexy Jack Layton and then there was Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who - I realised while I was halfway through this comic - was actually Batman. Think about it: the fast cars, the formative experience in exotic war-torn lands, the deceased millionaire father who left a fortune and cast a long shadow, the penchant for wearing capes...

With all those things, you'd think it was hard to take PET seriously, but he was dead serious. Just watch early clips of him pontificating from a CBC lectern. Perhaps the most serious thing that he did was implementing the War Measures Act - the subject of the famous "Just Watch Me" interview. Scary words coming from any head of state, but I urge you to watch the entire interview to hear an exchange that never happens in politics any more.

The public persona of Pierre Trudeau is so outlandish that I felt I had to supply more notes than usual:

Suzie is reading Citizen of the World by John English. If you read it you'll realise that I've hardly made anything up.

That's Jean Marchand and Gérard Pelletier in panel 4. I didn't do a good job of drawing Gérard, but you can check out the real-life Trois Colombes in the original Reservoir Dogs photo.

Pierre is quoting Jean Cocteau in panel 5. Meanwhile, the bandit is saying, "You're crazy!"

I paraphrased Justin Trudeau's eulogy for his father in panel 10. You can watch the moving tribute in its entirety here.

Everybody knows who Tuxedo Kamen is, right?

That's Le Sanctuaire du Saint-Sacrement in panel 9, home to the Monastic Communities of Jerusalem on Avenue Mont-Royal.

The incident in Panel 11 happened more than one year ago on Rue St-Denis but I have oversimplified it.

Sources/Links:

Pierre Trudeau's Wikipedia page

Pierre Trudeau: Just Watch Me - the full interview from the CBC archives

The Champions - an excellent documentary on René Lévesque and Pierre Trudeau by Donald Brittain

Trudeau's Pirouette

Royal Canadian Air Farce Trudeau sketch

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First off, I'd like to apologise that Idol Worship isn't as polished as it should be. My jury-rigged lightbox was too big to bring on the plane, so I had to work at A4 size using tracing paper and a ballpoint. I also used a gel pen for lettering, but the main thing is that not working at A3 size generally tends to make legibility and detail suffer.

Anyway, my former classmates at UST-CAFA should have a bit of a laugh. They'd tell you that Blondie was a real person, although at the time I was too dumbstruck to realise that. The only things I flubbed were how shallow Mr. Ignudo was (how do you draw someone who never says anything interesting?) and Rodin's 'The Kiss.' We did have a plaster cast of 'The Thinker' but I think that was in the Life Drawing studio.

I should also mention that since my digital version of National Geographic is probably still in a shipping container, I'm not exactly sure if the 'Creation of Adam' had a three-page spread. I suggest you get your hands on a copy of the actual magazine if you can.

Image References:

The Creation of Adam

Ignudo 1

Ignudo 2

The Kiss

The Dying Gaul