Human literature and folklore is full of the romance of the sea. All those heroic deeds, brave confrontations with the elements, battles with fierce creatures, and always some strange symbolism regarding our unconscious state, or our subconscious state. I can never sort those out. If you are unconscious, that means you’ve been beaned on the head, right? Or taking a nap, to be less slapstick about it. The subconscious lurks beneath our conscious state, by definition; it informs our thoughts and motives and decisions and actions, whether we like it or not. So the theory goes, at any rate. Literature assigns our fears and desires monstrous manifestations in the forms of kraken and mermaids and Atlantis and angry squid that leap from the coast to attack cities of the North American Midwest. The hero emerges from the deep, dark underworld (or underwater) wholly changed by the experience. This can be pretty cool, or really tragic.

What does any of that have to do with our little pig? We’ll see.

Drawing giant violent waves is fun.

Hope y’all like the new site design. As I mentioned in the blog post announcing the redesign, I still have “future enhancements” — that is, stuff I still want to add to the site. Please let me know if there is something YOU would like to see.

Also, I’m thinking about creating a monthly newsletter. Anyone interested in that? Vote yea or nay.

Until next week, have fun!

The big changes are look and usage: navigation, archives access, tweaking the CSS, and converting to the latest Comicpress theme. Also, the “blog” part has been moved to a separate News page.

Of course, I’ve been designing web sites long enough to know that no redesign is ever truly “done.”

There are always “future enhancements” — for which I have a few for this site. Such as:

• Adding a games page: I want to learn how to create Flash based games. My kids play them all the time, and Sheldon’s adventuring, Chloe’s manic interest in everything, and Guzek’s inventiveness could all make great elements for an adventure game.
• A “coloring book” — really, a page of black and white drawings to download, print and color. There could also be a Flash version of that, too.
• The Store — more stuff to buy, but do it directly from this site.
• A newsletter — this will be coming soon.

All of that will take some time to develop and launch — certainly the Flash stuff — probably most of this year.

Hope you enjoy the new look. And of course, the comics!

New story! Sheldon returns front and center! Like many of you regular readers, I have been waiting a long time to see the pig in action again. This story is one I have had in my head for almost two years. Maybe longer. (I don’t wanna think about that.)

Technical note: This story marks the first time I will be using traditional inking tools on a Wanderlost story. Previous work has been rendered using my trusty LAMY fountain pen, brush pen, markers and, of course, Photoshop. In the previous story, I started using pen nibs on the backgrounds. For this story I am using primarily a Hunt 102 nib and two Windsor-Newton series 7 brushes, nos. 1 and 2. Plus some assist from the brush pen for touching up.

If you are the type of person who geeks out on tool talk like that, you’re welcome. If such talk puts you in a coma, I apologize.

BTW – you may have noticed a new look to the site. I am in the process of redesigning it. Some features of its appearance and some new pages will appear, as well as some new bits on the sidebars. I hope it doesn’t unsettle y’all — and I invite any constructive feedback. Let me know if something works for you or if there is something you’d like to see! I should be done soon.

Otherwise, please enjoy the comics. Thanks for your patience!

Here it is! The last page of this story. A new story begins next week.

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by simply stating that, where this story did not feature the “little pig who could not stay put,” the next story will be all Sheldon.

So stay tuned for next Wednesday’s installment of the first page of the new story line, “Out to Sea!”

Until then, if you have not already, please send some cash to relief efforts for the people of Haiti. Yele Haiti, Doctors Without Borders, The American Red Cross — whatever works for you.

Happy new year all. The lateness of this post this week should tell you what kinda week I have had. It started with a stomach virus, detoured at an oven catching fire, and most tragic of all, I couldn’t find my Wacom Pen Stylus.

Fortunately everything is set to rights now. I am well, we have a new oven on order from Home Despot, and as the presence of color on this week’s installment indicates, I found the stylus. It was under the dog’s bed.

It’s like 2009 wasn’t done with me yet.

The last page of the year and of the decade. Which means something. I don’t know what. There’s another page coming next week, so it’s not like it’s a huge event. Still, glad the page is here. Glad it could make it in this horrible weather. For those of you trapped by snow and wind, do what Ma Pig has done: grab a polar fleece blanket with a funky pattern, bundle up and stay inside.

See you next week. Happy new year!

The least light-hearted Wanderlost page ever. But still some slapstick.