Tara thinks the fish-girl is very sexy.  That's nothing.  In the pencil original, I had her bare-breasted and couldn't figure out how to get out of that bind, because the picture worked really well and I was loath to erase.  In the end I decided to use sea shells to cover her up.

I've wanted to paint a mermaid for ages.  (One of these days I'm going to tackle a dragon with paint.  --Probably a good way to get eaten.)  Mermaids have been going bare-breasted ever since artists first started illustrating fairy tales, but if I want to get distributed through non-adults-only channels, (that is, if I want to exist in today's industry), I've got to do it this way.  Ah well.

I've always intended to take the story into areas where dating and mating and all that juicy/painful stuff gets dealt with; Fairy tales which don't deal with love at some point are only half-told in my opinion.  But I sort of feel like the other shoe hasn't dropped yet, and frankly it's stressing me out a little.  I've learned to duck quick when around P.C. types.  --Though, luckily, the whole trend of social hyperawareness and people salivating at the chance to lecture others on silly word usages when nobody really meant to insult anybody in the first place, seems to be declining in popularity.  About time.  But I'm still a little worried.

For instance, I've just signed on with a Canadian book distributor, and so far T&K has been a big hit with kids and parents.  I don't want to put parents through the discomfort of having to explain why a vulnerable witch girl like Kim, dressed up in a mini-skirt was left to watch over Rubel all by her lonesome.  (Locumire's a nasty one, she is.  Poor, poor Rubel.)

Ah, well.  Can't let the market determine my direction.  But I would be annoyed if I ended up being branded a subversive, bad influence and lost potential readers who might otherwise enjoy T&K.  --Even though I am somewhat subversive to a degree, (although I hide it carefully).  Can I help it if I profited by ditching post secondary education, and believe that 'breaking the rules' is the only morally correct and sensible thing to do in any number of life's situations?  Show me somebody who always follows rules to the letter, and I'll show you a miserable, dull person, who if they take it to the worst extreme, is bound to end up with no true friends.

Existence is based upon multiple, conflicting truths coexisting in the same space and time.  No one set of rules can allow for all contingencies, and if they can, they are too complex to be useful.  If there is a grand unification theory out there to be found, then that's all fine and well, but just try using it to explain why the Fonz was respected and Richie ridiculed.

Hm.  I started this talking about a painting.  Better stop here.