We love Pet Foolery here at Bored Panda. We have featured the cute comics series—which is created by Minnesota illustrator Ben Hed—many times before, laughing along with his imaginings of animals flirting like humans, the age-old 'cat vs dog' debate, and not forgetting his wildly popular comic duo, Pixie and Brutus.
Ben's self-described “goofy little comics” feature various types of adorable animals including anteaters, badgers, and tigers. But it is cats and dogs, those that we mostly gravitate toward as pets, that are the main stars of the series. Ben himself has two dogs, while his parents have three dogs and two cats, so he has plenty of material for his cartoon drawings!
Pet Foolery's Instagram page is hugely popular, with the success of Pixie and Brutus, in particular, pushing it up towards 2 million followers. We love funny comics and we love cute pets, it all makes perfect sense really, doesn't it? Scroll down below to check out some of our favorite Pet Fooleries below, and don't forget to check here, here, and here for all the Pixie and Brutus you can shake a stick at. Enjoy!
Illustrator Hed of Pet Foolery told Bored Panda that “with random webcomics, it’s not really difficult to continuously come up with creative ideas.”
“However, with animal comics about recurring characters and a continuing story (i.e Pixie and Brutus) I find it’s getting harder and harder to come up with new ideas and jokes.” Scroll down for the rest of the interview.
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The artist talked to Bored Panda about what webcomic artists who are struggling or are new to their craft can do. “One important piece of advice I’d give is to not be afraid to try different things, especially if you’re struggling.”
“Some of my highest performing comics were we’re new concepts, deviations from my normal style and format,” he said.
Hed also revealed to us that it takes 5 or 6 hours, on average, to finish one comic. But he noted that “it varies quite a bit.”
In previous interviews with Bored Panda, Ben of Pet Foolery told us about how his extremely successful Pixie and Brutus comics came into being and also cast some light on his creative process.
“Pixie is a tiny, joyful, energetic kitten. She’s innocent, and also somewhat oblivious to the serious, dangerous stuff around her,” Ben told Bored Panda. While Brutus is a scarred German Shepherd.
“He was adopted by Pixie’s owner after retiring as a Military Working Dog (MWD). Brutus, in many ways, is the exact opposite of Pixie. He’s… Seen things. He’s a very serious and intimidating military dog, but he has a soft spot for Pixie and does what he can to protect her from the harsh realities of the world around them.”
The artist said that the idea to draw comics about Pixie and Brutus came to him randomly. “Honestly, Pixie and Brutus were just another random comic idea I had while at work. I was never planning on making them a series; I just thought it would be a funny idea to introduce a cute little kitten to a big intimidating war dog. So I made the first Pixie and Brutus cute animal comic and people liked it so much, I just kept making them.”
“I do worry about each comic’s performance, but I worried about that before I created Pixie and Brutus too,” Ben told us. Fortunately, he gets lots of feedback from fans of his art. “What they liked about the comic, what they thought was going to happen, ideas for future comics, ideas for new characters. There are probably a couple of funny comics in my feed that are entirely inspired by a comment on one of my posts.”
He also said that the comics have evolved over time: “Their designs are a bit different from the first P and B comic, and I guess Brutus has gotten gradually less hostile towards other characters as of late, but other than that. It’s pretty much the same.”
“I thought it would be cool to have them adapted into a TV show, but that’s long term. Probably won’t even ever happen… but maybe.” Well, we certainly hope that Ben’s comics eventually become animated!
...but I can't actually kill it if it's already dead, Todd... Brilliant, I'm dying here.
They also release a foul, green feces when they do this. Not appetizing at all.
Fresh meat is healthy, meat that's been dead a while rots, if you don't know what killed it it might have died from disease that might also kill YOU if you eat it. Still hilarious.
OMG, dying! I've seen possums do this and it's so hilarious ... The confusion of the predator? Totally on point.
How awesome is the 'possum, just going about his business, but when one night, coyotes gave him a fright, playing dead was his only tricks-es. Opossums are so cute, and people can be so mean to 'em when they actually perform quite a service by eating hundreds of nasty ticks and other pests a night, and who knows what else that could carry disease? The grin...! *snicker! LOL
I was picturing possum quietly slinking away as they argued as married couples do.
I've actually seen a possum play dead. One of them got into my work one day and we had to chase it down and catch it with a bucket. They really do that.
Ok... but to be clear we all know that squirrels are the real plotters, right?
Me buying chocolate for a full week, just to super power eat it all in less then 2 days.
Emphasis on "training." Dogs need to be socialized and trained how to react to people who aren't in their pack... Pitts are amazing animals if they have halfway decent owners.
Note: this post originally had 44 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I like the humour :) Thank's for sharing and making me laugh in the morning! ^^
I just LOVED that! i just wished people read the whole thing instead not doing so its more fun that way
Love the art! Really funny!! How about a series on cats? A Persian cat in a burka or turban? A Norwegian Forest Cat snowshoeing in the Netherlands forest with a sniper rifle? A Siamese cat dancing with crazy jewelry? A British Blue in a navy uniform? A 'murican short hair with a crew cut, backwards baseball cap, Bud-lite beer and rifle saying "Gimme a burger and fries, goddamn it." Just a thought.
I like the humour :) Thank's for sharing and making me laugh in the morning! ^^
I just LOVED that! i just wished people read the whole thing instead not doing so its more fun that way
Love the art! Really funny!! How about a series on cats? A Persian cat in a burka or turban? A Norwegian Forest Cat snowshoeing in the Netherlands forest with a sniper rifle? A Siamese cat dancing with crazy jewelry? A British Blue in a navy uniform? A 'murican short hair with a crew cut, backwards baseball cap, Bud-lite beer and rifle saying "Gimme a burger and fries, goddamn it." Just a thought.
