I'm Chesca Hause, and my coping mechanism for motherhood is to take copious notes! The tantrums, stress, and blowouts aren't quite as bad if they can be spun into a joke.
Litterbox Comics is now in its third year, and it's a joy to be able to make other people smile. The number of parents who think I have cameras in their house is crazy! It makes me realize we're all more similar than we are different, which is a wonderful thought.
People ask me, "why cats?" and honestly, the main reason is I've just never liked drawing humans (hair and noses are HARD!), but I'm also a big biology nerd and love being able to spin animal jokes into my comics. There is a staggering amount of overlap between kids and cats, and crafting a joke that ticks both boxes is my holy grail.
Although the characters are based on my real family, they've started to take on a life of their own—going to Hogwarts, turning into robots, and visiting The Three Bears! Scroll down to see, but also visit me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tapas, or Webtoons for BONUS panels showing what happens directly after the comic!
If you missed the previous parts of my comic, you can find them here, here, and here.
More info: Instagram | Facebook | litterboxcomics.com | litterboxcomics.shop | patreon.com | twitter.com | webtoons.com | tapas.io
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I was always "the cartoonist" at school. I went to university for animation, but dropped out after a year, bummed around doing freelance work and playing too much World of Warcraft. I eventually came up with the website Cartoonize My Pet and built that into a successful business. But drawing pets over and over and OVER again got boring, and by then I had kids and wanted to do something with my newfound parenting knowledge.
One day I was watching Daniel Tiger with the kids, rolling my eyes at their perfect lives. I wished I could watch a show that was a little more "real". Then it hit me, I couldn't make a show, but I could make a comic!
Wait for a second I also wondered why I couldn’t see my eyes lol
Having Fowl Language and Hedger Humor comics popping up in my mom groups definitely played into my Daniel Tiger eureka moment. I'm also real life friends with Zach Cranor from Last Place Comics. He used to have a popular comic series back in the day, so I knew it was possible to make it big. The funny thing is we ended up motivating each other. His past success inspired me and then my success helped get him back into making comics again!
Here's my advice for all of the young grasshoppers. Draw from what you know, then put a unique spin on it. For me it's my family, but making them animals gives me more tools to play with and an instantly recognizable brand.
I make copious notes. Sometimes what happens can be turned directly into a comic (my husband and I joke that our 7-year-old is the best writer in the house!) but other times it's just a kernel of an idea. I'll go back through my notes and see how I can expand them. Once I have a script, I'll sketch it out VERY roughly into comic panels to check the flow, usually running it by J (hubby) to see if he can punch it up. Once we're satisfied that it's reading well, I'll progress to neat pencils, inks and color. I document the process for every comic on my Patreon, so that's a great resource if you want to see more—and laugh at my terrible rough drawings!
This is why little kids scare me sometimes. They make you think about things you’ve never thought about before.
My favorite bit? Hmm... maybe adding the shadows? They are completely not necessary and honestly, I should probably skip it and post, but they are my fun little reward at the end. Least favorite is when I have a bunch of idea seeds, but I'm in a bad place mentally to expand them. Hormones have a lot to answer for there! Some days I just can't think.
I mean, you always hope they will be, but it's still so bizarre! I was pretty confident they'd resonate with parents, but seeing how many non-parents enjoy them has been a wonderful surprise! I met my first fan out in the wild the other day and that really brought home to me the fact that Litterbox is getting out there!
As for my future, I've got a couple of things cooking that I can't talk about yet, but one I'm working on is a book. The trouble with books is they require exclusive content and I'm so slow! I'll get there though!
"I am not angry, I am disappointed" is the most awful sentence mothers ever created.
This comic has a bonus panel. I remember for this one, the bonus panel was the deer surrounded by a horde of cats
I don't often laugh out loud at stuff, but I did at this one!
Having been a weird child myself I also hated pictures taken of me.
Somehow juvenile selachimorpha just doesn't have the same earworm quality to is a 'baby shark'
Oh dear God does this ring way too truly. Mama to mama, I feel your pain. Lol
Note: this post originally had 52 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Love these comics!! They're all hilarious and spot on for parents. Thank you Chesca!!!
Love these comics!! They're all hilarious and spot on for parents. Thank you Chesca!!!
