click to visit larger image Epic of Sally Robertson, page 33 From the Fenworks |
Long, long ago, Sally’s mom was hired as a bartender. She was still doing full time school at the time, but somehow managed to squeeze in this bartending work and she never left the job. The turn-over rate at Flounder Sound Brewtech is really low, because it’s an amazing place to work. Partly because of the regulars. Maybe largely because of the regulars.
I used to work for a local brewpub. I got hired there as the graphic designer because of my comic. I applied for the floor mopping position, but the general manager caught me cartooning in the five minutes before the interview and asked me if I would like to do posters, ads and menus as well. I said, “sure!” And ended up helping to rebrand the whole place in the course of the next three years. I even had the honor of designing their first production beer labels and they’re still on the shelves to this day. Even though it has been many years, I still feel a strong loyalty to the place.
I make Brenna’s workplace a lot like that brewpub. I make her customers a lot like our customers, only just a tad more quirky. Only a tad, though. And I do so, because I owe a great deal to that first job. And I feel like that is a significant understatement.
But it should be known that the comics I make about Flounder Sound Brewtech are not about the real brewpub. They do not reflect upon their service or product, nor upon their hospitality or clientele. Even though it looks like, sounds like and feels like the real place, Flounder Sound Brewtech has its own problems which it does not share with any real business. It is not a caricature, it’s an homage. An homage that exists in a mythical city created by the dreams and desires of the population of a not-quite-as-quirky-as-it-thinks-it-is Pacific Northwest college town. Half in the dream world, it definitely has its own problems.
Epic of Sally Robertson: Brenna’s Work originally appeared on Drawing Contraption on 2013/06/11.