You blockhead, Smith!

Originally published 29 January 2010

The only way this strip could be made more like Peanuts would be to put the cardboard box on a pitcher's mound.

This'll get Snow's attention.

Originally published 27 January 2010

'Big fish, small fish, cardboard box' is a dance, akin to the Birdies Dance or the Macarena in that it goes with its own song, and is especially designed so that anyone, no matter how talentless, can twitch rhythmically along with it. It involves just moving moving your hands, big fish (open your hands wide), little fish (bring them closer together), cardboard box (turn your hands parallel to each other to mimic a cardboard box). The moves originated with rave culture in the late 80s, as it was a dance anyone could do no matter how drug-addled, and has now become a children's party song. Even Bob the Builder does it.

I was experimenting with colours in this strip. Eventually I decided that big bold hues weren't right, and gradually moved towards a more muted palette. An occasional blast of colour is useful, but used as a background like this, it's overpowering.

Smith is coloured the opposite way to most comics. My characters are mainly white, so the colour has to be put into the background. This gives the required contrast and makes Smith and Jones stand out better. The other thing that has to be taken into consideration is that the colours should not clash with Jones's beige points. Hence the muted colours.

Plumpf!

Originally published 25 January 2010

The sibling relation ship in a nutshell. Or cardboard box, if you wish.

Cardboard box

Originally published 22 January 2010

First appearance of cardboard boxes in the strip. Smith, like all cats, loves cardboard boxes, though maybe not as much as Maru, the famous Japanese cat, who prefers to wear his as a cummerbund...

The fitting of boxes

More cat observation, and this time I have the right cat doing it. Cholmondeley was a great one for sitting in boxes, whether they were big enough for him or not. I’ve seen him with both forelegs in a cereal packet, trying to work out how to fit his back legs in.

Of course, some cats have become incredibly famous for their box gymnastics...

The magic box

This almost became a series of strips but I decided against it. I was considering a follow up strip where Jones jumps into the first box, is spat out of the upended second one into mid air, falls back under gravity and then rolls out of the first box again. And then another where Smith uses the boxes in an attempt to get onto Smudges wall, only to find Smudge has just knocked it off just as he is emerging from the second one. And one where he drags the first box into the airing cupboard, just in case. And one where Smith goes in the first one and a negative Smith called Schrodinger walks out of the second. But no - it's best kept as a one-off. If a box such as this stayed in the Smith Universe it could end up destabilising the domestic setting of the strip.