🐾Cartooning with Sunny and Midge the Mutt🐾

MeeWOW! This cat recently spoke with Midge’s professional cartoonist, Sunny, to discover how she chronicles her beloved Midge the Mutt’s escapades in panel cartoons. Midge is a proud mutt according to her X bio; a lover of dirty socks, a hater of baths, and a Bond and Snoopy fangirl. Loves bacon. Good dog!

SPL: Sunny, what initially inspired you to become a cartoonist?
Sunny: Well, funny as it may seem, I originally aspired to be either a paleontologist or an archeologist. Unfortunately, being allergic to the sun makes digging in the desert for dinosaur fossils a bit tough for me. By the time I accepted this, I had already been drawing comics regularly. I had a whole bunch, but Midge was the one I kept up with and was always trying to improve.

SPL: Are there artists that have inspired you?
Sunny: A lot, really. But my biggest inspirations as to comic art and style are Bill Watterson, who created Calvin and Hobbes (the greatest comic strip of all time), and Klasky & Csupo, the animation studio best known for Rugrats (although I preferred The Wild Thornberrys – I was pretty obsessed with it as a kid).

SPL: What mediums (materials) do you use?
Sunny: All modern Midge comics are first sketched out (on printer paper because that’s the easiest size for me to work with even though it’s a professional no-no) with Kimberly pencils, then inked with Uni-Ball pens before I scan them to my computer and color them in Krita. I used to color them with colored pencils, but the scanning process sorely misrepresented the color and I had to move to digital.

SPL: Have you found AI to be a tool or a hindrance/drawback? Do you ever use it in your art and why?
Sunny: I mostly hate AI because it does a crappy job of whatever it is it’s doing. I never use it. Honestly, if I see AI art, I get fixated on spotting all the mistakes like a Hidden Picture puzzle. But, even if it were to improve enough to be helpful, I won’t use it. I like creating my work myself on my own terms and I feel like AI takes that away from creators.

SPL: What do you enjoy the most about being an artist? The least (i.e., drawbacks) ?
Sunny: What I enjoy the most is the creativity. I just love when ideas come to me, and I love picturing them and thinking about what I can add or how I can mold it into something cool or special or funny. What I enjoy least are deadlines. Odd as it sounds, I consider it a blessing that the syndicates I submitted Midge to rejected her. I learned afterwards, personally, from professional cartoonists, how hard those deadlines are to make.

Sunny: Taking a slight intermission to take out the shihtzu who is doing the doody dance.

SPL: *licks paws, preens fluffy angel wings, checks notes*

SPL: Meow! Welcome back Sunny! My Scribe is also an artist, yet never took it to the commercial side. We (that is, me the hamsum cat, an my Scribe) are familiar with your art in the marketplace. How did you transition from hobbyist to professional cartoonist?
Sunny: Basically, I was just blessed with a very supportive family. I’ve been working for my parents, including as my mom’s caregiver during the last six years of her life, so I can work on my passion projects, including Midge. I can’t say I make a lot on Midge, so I’m not sure how great those tips would be, BOL.

SPL: Well, riches or not, we really hope you’re doing a Midge calendar again this year? If so, where could a cat or doggo (or squirrel, raccoon, stuffie or bunny…with ‘their’ credit card) obtain your 2026 calendar or or other Midge art?
Sunny: Yes, oh yes! We’ve created the Midge 2026 Calendar, which is out now in MidgeShop on Zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com/midge_2026_sunday_comics_calendar-256605243268250874. Click where it says MidgeShop to see the other cool merch. I’m hoping to add some designs next year, too.

SPL: Sunny, thank you for sharing your insights on art and life as an artist. Wishing you and Midge a sweet holiday!

SPL: Midge the Mutt is often a found-in on Xtwit, Bluesky, Zazzle, and deFURnitely at facebook.com/midgethemutt. Thank you for joining me on this Behind the Scenes with Sir Pickle Longpaw. If you would like to share your story about your art, business (yes, farms!), or purrhaps a passion that can be published without causing massive blushing, please forward a brief bio and your contact details to: Behind the Scenes with Sir Pickle Longpaw, C/O The Anipal Times