Chesca Hause
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Making of "Have a Hunch"
🕑 Added 2022-12-02 21:13:10 +0000 UTC(Catching up on the "making of" posts now I'm clear of my book deadline!) :)
I was walking into Costo when I spotted a small old man shuffling across the parking lot. Poor guy had a cartoonish hunchback and I immediately corrected my own slouched posture. Then looked around to see if I could spot anyone else doing the same. I thought how funny that might look -a crowd of people suddenly bolting uptight in unison.
I've found the "#relatable" comics can go viral like no other, so although this wasn't the funniest idea, I thought I'd give it a shot! At the very least, it would be a fun visual challenge.
This was animated and way more complicated in my head. To do it justice would have taken a lot more characters and panels -far more time than a joke of this caliber deserved! Instead I simplified it; 3 panels, all fixed camera, but that presented it's own set of challenges! :)
First I had everyone standing around on their phones with the old man hobbling in, but there was something weird about them all just standing there. I changed everyone to walking, but then I had issues with them overlapping. I compromised by having them walk at slightly weird paces, so they were all clearly visible on each panel.
I wanted Fran to be one of the animals, partly for brand awareness, but also to make it obvious that this is a thing that happens to me, rather than a judgy "kids these days!" type post.
One of them had to be a giraffe, because the logistics of a giraffe with a cell phone is hilarious to me. With 2 mammals, I usually try to pull from another animal family. I started thinking about birds and reptiles when I realized a blue bird for Twitter would be perfect!
The last character was the old man. My first instinct was a tortoise, but then I worried if it would be clear he had a hunch when tortoises look like that anyway!
I took the problem to J and after we thought on it a while, he came up with a famously very upright animal -a meerkat!
Unfortunately it turns out that meerkats with hunches look like sloths! Oh well, at least after reading this you can appreciate the joke! :)
