June 25, 2005 • Archive // Illustration

Animals gone bad

22

I drew this one for a story about unusual pets that people keep. Not that having, say, a hermit crab is all that unusual. But *I* didn’t write the story, so don’t blame me. It wasn’t terribly interesting overall — pigs didn’t even get a mention, much less cobras, ant farms or chimps — so I decided to give it some edge with the police lineup motif. Nothing says “look out!” like a bunch of smiling animals at a police lineup. I mean look at that hamster. Scary.

I had to rush this one out, and the result of my haste is a poor rabbit whose arms not only have grown out of the middle of his chest but can’t touch the floor even when he’s lying down. I subconsciously realized this, as evidenced by the concerned look on the spider’s face, but did nothing to stop it.