After seeing last week's comic, a friend asked me about whether or not Commander Witless would even be able to calculate the stardate. Considering how indecipherable they usually are in programmes like Star Trek and Witless' undoubted ability to mess things up, it's not such a suprising question. The answer to that question comes in the form of this week's strip... I'm sure you all know what the answer is by now.

You know something? I hate drawing spaceships. I'm awful at it. I have a terrible time just trying to copy existing ones from films and TV. So, doing a set of strips with a science fiction setting and based aboard a spaceship has given me more than just a small amount of stress. To be honest I've been agonising over how the ship that Commander Witless is supposed to be captaining is to look for quite some time. Months, actually, ever since I decided that I'd start the strips in the summer. And in all that time I've come up with literally dozens of different designs. Some extravagant, some simple. Some cool looking, some appearing to be designed by a particularly untalented rock. In the end I decided upon the look that I did for two reasons... 1) I needed something simple to draw each week that wouldn't take up too much time with little details, and 2) a ship that looks like a duck really is the sort of thing that a decendant of Jason would use. I can't really imagine him in anything else, frankly. And so we find the first depiction of Commander Witless' ship in this week's strip a little simple perhaps, but doing it's job. The design may change a little in the future, but for now it will suffice. Enjoy, and see you all next week for the continuing adventures of Commander Witless!

Well, something just didn't want me to get this week's strip online at all! I'm afraid that the lack of promised updates yesterday was due to unforseen technical circumstances. I have just been in the middle of changing broadband supplier, in order to get a faster line. But I was never told when they were actually going to get around to switching the services over. I was supposed to get some warning, but that just never happened. As a result I was left without any internet connection at all yesterday, meaning I couldn't upload or update anything. Anyway, all that is taken care of now and finally this week's strip is up! Eagle-eyed readers will notice that there's an extra name on the credits beside mine this time. That's because I had help and inspiration from my friend Dave for the strips that will be posted in the next few weeks. Starting with today's strip I welcome you all to the fantastic adventures of Commander Witless - Space adventurer, starship captain and distant relative of Jason! Like the role playing game strips, this will be an occassional series of strips made to work out some of the sci-fi jokes and situations I have rattling around my head.
I would to say that next week's updates should go without a hitch and on time... but we all know where that kind of thinking gets us, so I shall just say check back Tuesday to find out what happens!
In other news, I have created an account on Deviant Art. It is there that I have decided to showcase a lot of the other digital art I work on besides Quackers. My work there has been given some praise, of which I am quite proud (given that some of the highly praised pictures were only quick tests!). To anyone who wishes to go look just click the following link to be taken to my profile page on Deviant Art with links to the gallery: lesmellor.deviantart.com
For those of you who have made your way over to see Quackers after seeing my work on DA, welcome! And I hope that you enjoy the comics on offer here.

Alright, I'll admit it. I was a trifle optimistic in thinking that I'd be able to finish today's planned strip on time. Not that I didn't start it soon enough, but a few of the design issues got a little out of hand and there have been several things I've had to change here and there while creating it. The comic should be posted by the end of tomorrow, though, so please be sure to come back again then when you should be able to read what is the start of a new block of strips featuring a new, but slightly familiar character...

*Phew!*
Apologies to everyone there for the delay this week. Things got a little out of hand and as Jason enjoys going overboard with his hi-jinks it made creating the strip all the more difficult and longer. Anyway, I hope the delay hasn't been too hard to take and I also hope you all enjoy the comic. The title "Big Finish" is rather apt as not only is it based around one of Jason's ambitions to be involved in a large musical number, but it is also the last strip before Quackers enters a short hiatus.
Yes, I'm taking a week off from the comic to catch up on some other things and to recharge my creative batteries. But never fear, we shall return on the 16th June (who can believe it's June already?!). There'll be some of your old favourites returning, plenty of new wacky adventures to share, and maybe a few new characters popping up. So, enjoy this week's strip, have a good week next week while we're all away, and we'll see you all again on the 16th!
(Now if I could only get that song out of my head...)

After an unexpected trip away over the weekend, and a comic strip twice as long as usual (like last week), I'm afraid there's a delay to this week's strip. Apologies abound, but it should be up in the next two days.

Wow, this has been a busy week! I've been struggling to get other artwork done, get used to using a new, more sensitive graphics tablet, taking part in multiple climbing activities (and gaining multiple injuries and boo-boos on the way), and also drawing one of the longest Quackers strips ever (if not actually the longest). The strip this week is twice as long as normal. I haven't had to work quite that hard for a strip for some time, but I feel it was worth it. It's certainly turned out to be one of my favourites, and hopefully you'll all enjoy it. Right now however I'm going to go scooch into a corner, curl up and lapse into a coma...

There seems to be a touch of the crazies in the air this week. As usual Quackers isn't immune, as witnessed in this latest strip. It's a good job that we're all used to it by now, isn't it? It's just a quick one this week, but the next two weeks will be fairly large strips which should more than make up for that...
In other news, Telltale Games is celebrating it's fifth birthday with a special offer. The makers of episodic adventure games Sam & Max, Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, and the newly launched Wallace and Grommit's Grand Adventures are offering up episodes of their games for the wallet-friendly amount of $5 each. All you have to do is use the following link: www.telltalegames.com/coupon/V9P-5KZ-TAL-QD8, which will give you access to the Telltale store to make your purchases and automatically apply the coupon discount. The code can be used as many times as you like until the 17th of June, meaning you can apply the discount to any number of episodes. After that you'll be able to enjoy some of the coolest adventure games around! If you're still not sure try out Sam & Max Episode 4, Season One: Abe Lincoln Must Die, for free before making your mind up.
If you're having trouble with the link you can apply the coupon manually at the checkout. Just enter V9P-5KZ-TAL-QD8 when prompted.

I have to wonder why I torture myself like this sometimes. As much fun as I can have drawing backgrounds, I've always hated drawing buildings, especially houses. They're just no fun! And yet I decided to go ahead and add some for today's strip. Still, adding the distorted perspective at least helped to make it a little more enjoyable...

I've had a sudden resurgence of creativity lately. Which is something I've felt that I've been lacking for a while. Sure I still have bouts of cantdrawfortoffeeitis and and a persistant proportionality disorder, but I'm getting used to the symptoms of those. Neither has stopped me from coming up with plenty of new ideas for strips and other projects over the last week or so (more of which will be mentioned sometime soon).
Someone else with bursts of creativity lately is Jason, who once again is driving Tom to distraction this week. At least he's consistent.

So, you thought last week's strip was just a one-off? No one gets off that easily! Especially not Tom, by the looks of today's strip. As ever he has to face the brunt of Jason's shenanigans. It's a good job he's used to them by now... Here's hoping that he can hold out until next week for the next strip!

The subject of today's strip is something that I often do to people I know. I say it's a healthy way of expressing my artistic side... The people on the receiving end of it aren't so sure. Either way it still amuses me to no end *evil grin*
For those few of you who are wondering, the role playing strips are back on a break for now (I didn't want to overdo it), but they will be back in several weeks' time.

I have something of a love/hate relationship with Quackers. While I love making all these strips for you all to read, not to mention coming up with all the zany things that Jason and company get up to, there are times it really gets to be a pain. This last week has been one of those times. I've been looking forward to making this week's strip for a long time. No particular reason, I just thought it'd be fun to draw. Unfortunately I happen to be going through one of my 'can't even draw a straight line' phases. I know that Quackers hasn't got the most polished of styles, but there's just something about everything I've drawn this week that just looks a little... off. I wish I could put my finger on what, but as I can't it's been a most frustrating weekend that I've spent on the comic.
Anyhow, all griping aside, you can jump to the comic in question from here and make up your own minds about it. If nothing else I think that the joke has held up, even if the drawings haven't!

Just a quick post today to say the traditional Quackers HAPPY EASTER to all our readers! And be sure to keep those chocolate eggs well hidden... Jason's a determined duck when he thinks there's chocolate to be had!

Yes... Well, there's a comic strip that kind of got away from me. When I wrote this strip during the previous chapter of the role playing saga, it started out as such a simple idea. Somehow, over the year since I put the idea down on paper it seems to have grown of its own accord... Like mildew in the shower, or that one determined weed you have in the garden that just won't die. I know now that there are places where I could have trimmed it down and made it more streamlined, but by the time I figured out how to repace it I'd already drawn it. Considering how much effort it took to draw in the first place, not to mention how cramped my arm feels, I really didn't want to have to go back in and alter it all, which would also have meant missing the Tuesday deadline. So here it is in all it's unedited and overzealous glory! Just one more fantasy strip left and then we will be returning to our regularly scheduled Quackers insanity.

And 'WOOWHOO' for disproportionality! Name me another comic where you can find so many things that don't match up from panel to panel! (I swear I'll never know why I made Tom's antlers so simple looking, yet so incredibly difficult to get right). Actually, that sounds pretty much like the rest of my life, so why buck the trend? :D
Ooh, and before I forget; I also updated last week's strip because I wasn't too happy with it. Nothing major has changed, just the addition of some dialogue in the first panel I forgot to add at the last minute, and some simple shading changes.
(You might need to refresh your browser to see the changes)

This week's strip is now up. I'm afraid things haven't been going so well around here lately, so this is just going to be a short post. But remember to drop by again next Tuesday to see the continuing adventures of Jason's role playing game!

This week's strip has now been posted.
As mentioned last week, we see the return of Jason's role playing game. Due to the length of time since we last joined the group I felt I had to do a little re-cap with this latest strip. As such there's no real punch-line or specific gag this week, but I thought that I really had to explain how our heroes escaped the undead minions from the previous episode. Not to worry though as next week we'll return to the usual silliness.

I'm afraid that due to the complexity of this week's strip (and that I'm a perfectionist about it), not to mention the lack of spare time I've had over the weeked, this week's strip will not be posted on time. There's not a lot left to finish, so the strip shall be posted tomorrow, but there's just no way I'll be able to upload it today. So please come back again tomorrow to see Jason once more donning his wizards' robes, picking up his wizards' wand and, yes, wearing that rediculous hat...

This week is a bit special. Today's St Patrick's Day, this artist gets another year older in a couple of days and we also reach the end of the line for the story that's been playing out for the last few weeks. I decided to end the story with a little experimentation, as I like to do. Being such a departure from the Quackers norm (and being all in rhyme at that), I decided to try colouring it with a watercolour style. I'm not sure if I achieved that, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I hope you all at least enjoy the poem I concocted after my last bout of illness. you can see it by clicking here.
As I said above, this is the last of this storyline. So what's replacing it next week? For some it'll be a return to a much loved part of Quackers. For others, not so much... Either way, prepare yourselves, for after almost a whole year the Quackers team returns to their role playing game! That's right, break out the dice, snacks and silly hats, Quackers will be going all magic and fantasy for the next few strips. Don't worry though, it won't be going on for as long as last time... And there shouldn't be several months delay half way through, either! No, this time I've decided to keep it short, so this part of the story will last just four weeks. I just have so much other Quackers goodness to cram into this year I couldn't let the role playing game use it all up! The story will continue at various time throughout the year however, so keep with us.

As usual it's all work, work, work around here. There's just never enough time to get everything I'd like done. Nevertheless I've been pretty productive over the last seven days. Not only have I managed to create and post this week's strip (which you can see here), but I've also managed to start rough drafts of two other pictures for people I know, get some photography done, and cram in a 40 hour work week... All in all not too shabby!
Oh, and I've also updated the Welcome page a little. A couple of the bios have had small additions and there are now more links to various archived strips. So if you feel like taking a trip through some of the old stories, why not take a look from there?
Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go and collapse in a corner somewhere.

*thunk*

Like most colds and flu, Tom's is persisting and refusing to budge this week. So much so he's having to resort to other forms of communication, which you can see here.
In other news I went climbing for the first time this weekend (after many, many weeks of persuasion by Dave!). Overwhelming terror and a vomit-inducing fear of heights aside, it wasn't so bad. It's something I think I'll try again, assuming I can keep the girly screaming and sobbing to a minimum... It does tend to distract the other climbers somewhat. Nevertheless, my experiences at the weekend have provided me with plenty of ideas for Quackers strips in the future, so that can only be a good thing. Now if only I could perfect a way of climbing without that whole going up tall walls and rock faces thing...

The Academy Awards may have been announced the other night, but since when did that ever stop Jason from flexing his dramatic muscles? Maybe he'll be in with a chance for next year's awards? Anyway, clicking here will take you to this week's strip and the chance to see Jason's dramatic flare in action.

Things continue to be problematic around here. Finishing off a pretty bad week was the demise of the wireless adaptor I rely on to get my desktop (my main work pc) online. Something of a problem when it comes to updating this website, as you can imagine. Despite all the things that have been going wrong in the last week, I've still been able to complete this week's strip and obtain a new wireless adaptor. Both of which mean that if you click here you'll be able to see that strip. This episode concludes the boiler breakdown story, but leads smoothly into the next series of strips starting next week.
The extra work I've been doing over the last couple of weeks has pretty much come to an end now, so assuming there are no more unexpected problems we should be updating as normal every Tuesday for now.

And so with the posting of the latest strip we see that Jason and Tom are still suffering with boiler trouble. Once Jason 'tweaks' something, it stays tweaked! I thought I'd try making another episode that didn't rely on dialogue with this one. I kinda forgot how hard that can be, but I think it turned out ok (or at least I hope it did). And despite my misgivings last week about getting it posted on time I just managed it with minutes to spare! Next week however I think there will definitely be a delay in getting the next strip posted due to work commitments, so apologies in advance. Any delay should hopefully just be by one day, but I'll be posting updates to let you all know how things are going should it take longer than expected.

This week's strip has been posted a tad later than normal, but it has now been posted. The next couple of weeks may see small delays similar to this week as my hours at work have increased temporarily. However I'll be doing my best to keep up with the usual Tuesday posting schedule. All being well our winter story will continue next week without incident.

Not a lot to say this week. I haven't been having such a good time over the last few days, but neither, it seems, have a lot of people I know. I guess it's just something to do with the time of year, the weather and the fact no one has any money left. Either way, not even the Quackers team has escaped the winter blues as you can see from this week's strip. This is the start of another new storyline which will run for the next few weeks and taper into the next story after that. Plenty for us all to be going at until the end of February at least.

Hello all. Here we again with the second half of the comic which started last week. High Definition is all well and good, but there can be downsides... as Jason and Tom find out.

In other news, over the last week I have managed - for the first time ever - to organise a schedule for upcoming Quackers strips. I thought that if I spent time now picking out which strips I wanted to get done out of the piles of ideas I have lying around, it would cut out a lot of that wasted time I have chosing each week. Might make things a little more streamlined (yeah, right). If nothing else it does mean that the next couple of months is all planned out and that assuming I have enough time to draw up the strips each week you'll have plenty more Quackers fun to look forward to!

And we're back! Hello again to you all. Hope you didn't miss us too much while we were gone last week (well, I do hope you missed us, but in a good way).
We return this week with a new strip which you can see by clicking here. This was going to be a much longer strip, but I found that it worked out a little too long in it's original format, so I've broken it up into two strips. The second half will air next week, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
This week's strip was inspired by my purchase of a new TV earlier in the year. Also by my friend Dave's purchase (and subsequent showing off) of a home projector, set up with a visible screen size of over one hundred inches wide... With some people it's all about the size, isn't it? ;)

Special thanks also go to one of my other friends, Mark "the Moose", who was kind enough to offer me his Wacom graphics tablet as a replacement for my excessively overused one. It's thanks to him that I was able to create this week's strip! And don't worry Moose, I will remember to get batteries for that iPod transmitter someday soon...

Happy New Year everyone! And to celebrate here's our latest strip. I'm mostly happy with it, despite the pen of my graphics tablet finally giving out on me. Yes, after almost two years of pretty much daily use, the pen nib has been reduced to a teeny stump barely able to make a line. Despite the challenges of making digital art with barely functioning equipment I still enjoyed making the strip. It was fun coming up with something that didn't have any dialogue at all and just relied on expressions and sound effects. I've been waiting to draw this idea out for ages, and it's good to let something like that out of your head after a while :)
Quackers will be taking the week off next week, so there won't be a new strip I'm afraid. It's for a couple of reasons: first, to allow me time to recouperate after the Christmas period. Working in retail means it feels like it's been going on for months and I'm ready for a rest! The second reason is so that I'll have time to replace my over-used tablet pen and be ready to resume drawing more strips in the following weeks.

For now, enjoy today's strip, take a browse through the archives over the next week that I'll be away, and be sure not to break any New Year's resolutions too quickly! ;)

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