Why Pandas Don't Breed in Captivity

So this was the first comic we drew yesterday. There are six altogether, so let's call it a daily update this week! Click on it to read it full size.

I started this one because I wanted to draw a Chinese dress. Kelly clearly wanted to draw pandas more. Rachel's addition of bamboo was interesting, as it has obviously morphed into a candy cane by the fifth frame.

In other news, my cold is still here and my nose is lovely and red and scabby. I put lipstick on but two sneezes later, it was on tissues instead. I remember my housemistress at school teaching us how to blow our nose so we didn't wipe off our lipstick at the same time. She had lived in France for a long time and was very much a Parisienne, with red lipstick, mens cologne and Breton stripes. I remember that the back stairs, which were over her flat, always smelled of garlic and cigarette smoke on her days off.

Tomorrow we are all tramping into college early doors for life drawing. My sketchbook really is ashamedly empty, so empty in fact that I didn't notice I'd forgotten it for my assessment until I saw Rachel's. I just hate drawing. I say this while posting a comic, but that's totally different. Cartoons are meant to be lines, whereas a person I see in terms of colour and volume. So tomorrow I am going to go in with ink and brush and see if that's any better. I really couldn't paint in acrylics from life, it would take far too long to build up the right layers and let them dry and I'd flood the life drawing room...

I think the solution to this is to buy a giant inflatable paddling pool and call it my studio. Then I can just empty, rinse, repeat. Voila! No more ruined linoleum. And if anyone has ever wondered just how waterproof oilcloth (the laminated stuff they make tablecloths out of) is, the answer is not very. It is splashproof, sure, but after a deluge from my underpainting, it sticks to the floor. So, yes, not brilliant at keeping the floor clean but it sure is pretty.