A Month of Letters: A Letter from the Midwest (Delivered by Art)

Nothing beats getting a neat letter in the mail.  And as the "Month of Letters" (lettermo.com) comes to a close on this Leap Day, I thought I should share an exchange of mail.  Below is a letter typed on a Remington Mark II typewriter (yes, people still use them!  Cool people, at least) owned by my new friend Jackie from Illinois.

Very cool.  I included the clumsily torn open envelope also, because Jackie was kind enough to seal the envelope with a very cool little sticker.  It is enjoyable to see the variations in tone and texture that a mechanical typewriter makes on paper.  I have only typed on a mechanical typewriter a couple of times.  Too frustrating for me.  Let's just say that there was more Wite-Out on the typed page than actual typing.  I like retro things, and I understand the value of the mechanical typewriter in history, but I think I will stick with computers.

In return, I sent Jackie a postcard featuring those two unlikely heroes: Duke McMahon & O'Roark. Jackie randomly mentioned a squirrel in her letter, so I randomly included a squirrel in the comic.  I found that I liked using this 6"x8" watercolor paper as a kind of oversized postcard (requires first class stamp), and when I used a small envelope to trace a rectangle, it seemed to make for a nice 2-panel comic format.  Easily adaptable to a "before and after"  or setup and punchline format.

And I included an additional pen sketch of some of the tools I used to make the postcard.  Jealous You didn't get an original art postcard from me?  Well, there is always next February!  Or you could send me something, and maybe I will send you something in return.  E-mail me at inkpuddle@hotmail.com.