#chamomile comic trivia

[jezmmart]

Unwarped version of the photo from the very end of the Summer Special for funsies.

No more jokes or avoiding questions about exactly how long it's going to be, the Summer Special is truly over now!  Thank you all again for reading. I hope it was enjoyable for those invested in the characters and those who just tune in each week for a quick chuckle alike.

It's been a fun challenge to write my first longform story for the comic, as it's far from something I'm confident in.  All together it clocked in at 85 pages (though shave a few off in spots where I just used negative space for dramatic effect rather than filling the longer pages with panels all the way down).  With the average page taking me 3-5 hours to make, that's about 14 days of work.  If I just didn't sleep I could've cranked this out in less than a month, dang!  Well, next time.

I've had the jist for this story in my head for a fair few years so it's been nice to finally realise it.  I'll get into the nitty-gritty when the trivia posts get this far I'm sure, but while it's still fresh in my mind, here's some off-the-cuff bits regarding the broad story for fun:

(Spoilers for anyone who hasn't read it yet!)

* I originally envisioned this as a thing I'd secretly work on behind the scenes and drop in its entirety for download, framed like a traditional "summer special" magazine. But unfortunately I just don't have that kind of time, and knowing that it would be years of work to do it alongside my other output, paired with the fear that not every reader would necessarily ever get around to reading a longform thing when they're used to just tuning in for a 30 second fix once a week and moving on, it became a no-brainer to just make it a "special" in spirit only and make it part of the main comic.  And I know myself, the only way this was ever getting done is if I just posted that first one and then locked myself in to having to finish it, one week at a time.

* The fact that I did it in 2022-2023, and the pacing of the story for the first half, was entirely dictated by the fact that Chamomile's update day was due to land on Christmas Day in 2022.  If I wanted to make that inappropriate Christmas Day comic joke, it was now or never, and because it needed to be a standalone ridiculous one comic scene in juxtoposition to the rest of the story-driven special, staging it as a dream sequence between the two days had to be the time for it.

* To that end... when I began working on it, I didn't have the whole thing planned out.  Day 1 of the trip was more or less sorted but I still had a ton of comics that were just scenes with no jokes yet, and Day 2 was a big question mark that somehow had to lead to Vi's dramatic reveal to Bri and realisation/meet-up with Sam at the end of it.  Day 2 was only fleshed out and finalised by around December last year, when everyone was going to bed on Day 1!  The idea to more thoroughly conclude Brianna's story in an extra epilogue, segregated off from the rest of the special so Sam and Vi's scene would still feel like a "climax", and also allowing the summer special to continue through this year's summer rather than ending right beforehand, only came to me early this year, and finalising the particulars of it came right down to the wire, with all the comics involved fleshed out and ready to go basically when I began drawing the first (or maybe even second, lol).

* On the note of Brianna, her story here is a lighter version of a story idea I had for her back before Cammie even existed and I was considering making a comic about her - a story in which someone returns to their hometown or a special place to find solace but instead finds out that everything has changed and has to learn a hard lesson about how nostalgia can't save you from adult life overwhelming you etc.  In my head it was to be a relatively sombre mood, but tbh I don't know where to begin writing something like that and have it be engaging throughout.  All I know is how to do jokes!!  So I mourn the loss of that imagined version but I'm happy I made something of it at last.  It's impossible to make stuff to your initial vague vision, it was always bound to change!

* While weekly updates meant I never had the time to flesh out their pre-relationship friendship as much as I'd always imagined I would... Sam and Vi have been destined to happen since Sam was introduced to the comic.  Been playing the long game in trying to make them inconspicious but shippers gonna ship and plenty of people saw it coming, but that's fine, haha!

* The elongated search for a 20p coin to get into the public toilets and then it turning out that contactless card payment could have been used the entire time was a real thing that happened to me and my partner during our 2016 holiday in New Forest.  It was really really funny and I've been sitting on the story in order to use it in Chamomile at some point for years and years.

That'll do for now!  Please look forward to the return to regular ol' classic Chamomile antics from Sunday!

#jezmm #art #chamomile comic #chamomile comic trivia #original character #character art #vienna #samantha #chamomile #brianna #layla

[downanight]

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BAGEL 🥯

vintage corduroy. rollerskates. peanut butter by the spoonful. thrift store couches. ferris wheels. hand drawn artwork. moodboards. watching the sunrise. camera shutters. undiscovered beauty. well-worn sneakers. banana splits. signing petitions. meditation. wise words. sprigs of lavender. long walks. wire rimmed glasses. humming under the breath. cluttered desks. creases between eyebrows. mismatched socks. happy little accidents. wide open windows. swatches. scratched heads. controlled chaos. spinning endlessly. pressed flowers. staring out the window.

BURRITO 🌯

cracking knuckles. the loudest voice at the table. impatient tapping. long term plans. 5am alarms. firm handshakes. sleek cars. dark blazers. polished brass. structured pants. avocado toast. belgian chocolate. annual gym memberships. my way or the highway. black coffee. dramatic sighs. whiskey on the rocks. swipe left swipe left swipe left. moodboards. neat lists. withering stares. asleep at the desk. ambient lighting. no room for mistakes. first place trophies. rehearsed speeches. hardwood flooring. never say never. late night cigarettes. ticking clocks. grasped hands.

COOKIE 🍪

blanket forts. home-cooked meals. words of encouragement. fireworks in the summer. hot fudge. black and white classics. unfinished thoughts. fuzzy socks. lost items in an old coat. hitting snooze over and over. nostalgia in everything. large families. ocean waves coming to shore. deep breaths. salt stains. juicy peaches. earthen dishware. chamomile tea. flour smeared cheeks. pumpkin spice. walks in the woods. blossoming carnations. slender jewelry. foreheads pressed together. slow jazz. filled calendars. warm cookies. unexpected gifts. fantasies.

FRENCH FRY 🍟

creased maps. raging waterfalls. unwashed hair. instant coffee. one way tickets. sunsets over the desert. root beer floats. half smoked cigarettes. grass stained jeans. dark chocolate. eye roll emoji. 3% battery. crowded concerts. sarcastic greeting cards. acid trips. candlelight. old posters. midnight swimming. warm musk. driving with the top down. burritos with extra guac. forgetting to text back. urban exploring. rumbling thunder. found family. rope swings. just jump. sharing stories. packing light. warm beer. road trips with no destination. bare faced. falling leaves. never look back.

HOT DOG 🌭

small details. herb gardens. busy city streets. conspiratorial smiles. baby powder fresh. tailgating at the big game. extra espresso shots. saying yes. endless ocean. meaningless tattoos. whatever’s on draft. 5k races. answers to everything. all night phone calls. truth or dare. messy buns. raspberry sorbet. you’re my bro, bro. cheating at monopoly. passing out on the couch. conversations with strangers. smolders. act now, think later. leather jackets. smudged makeup. restlessness. loud laughter. confident strides. natural talent. what ifs. hairbrained schemes.

PRETZEL 🥨

dogeared books. leather satchels. phone on silent. noise cancelling headphones. new book smell. chai lattes. chewed fingernails. dancing in the rain. trivia nights. succulents on the windowsill. all white bedding. a wrinkled dress shirt. messy handwriting. true crime podcasts. 5am drives. classic matte lipstick. bare feet in the grass. chapped lips. bullet journals. tired but satisfied. carefully chosen words. old libraries. well brushed hair. fresh bread. untouched snow. antiques. the shade from trees. bicycles. knitted scarves. knowing looks. first hand up in class. reliable suits.

PIZZA 🍕

dancing on tables. baggy shirts. salty fries. smeared make-up. bed head. bold statements. frappuccinos. fashionably late. lucky charms. girls nights in. roaring laughs. siri, open tinder. reality television. takeout on speed dial. midnight skinny dipping. incorrect turns of phrase. wilting houseplants. thriving on chaos. rocky road. hiding junk in closets. long island iced tea. long contact lists. bright confetti. breakfast for dinner. sweatpants. running from responsibilities. dark sunglasses. funky socks. fading hickies. social butterfly. novelty couch cushions. water balloon fights.

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CEREAL 🥣

paint splattered t-shirts. lush green fields. toothy grins. patchouli and sage. tiny tattoos. handwritten notes. mud tracked through the house. classic rock music. unread messages. chipped mugs. tangled headphones. repurposed leftovers. misunderstood punch lines. loaning money. old architecture. wandering. herbal remedies. heavy backpacks. chunky boots. encouraging smiles. thought-out haikus. tarot cards. pots of soup. charitable donations. unruly manes. socks and sandals. warm honey. old cars. golden hour. earl grey. canvas tents. gingham blankets.

CUPCAKE 🧁

maraschino cherries. no set schedules. comic books. wildflowers. light up sneakers. cosy beds. bubblegum. stacks of pancakes. singing in the shower. conversations with dogs. post its on the mirror. romantic comedies. champagne kisses. giddiness. blue sky thinking. twirling in a sundress. saturday morning cartoons. cursive handwriting. crushing hard on strangers. rolling down hills. chewed pen caps. bursts of excitement. hair flipping. cheap drinks. outright flirting. youtube marathons. great with kids. graphic shirts. tik tok trends. silver linings. welcome distractions. impromptu picnics.

ICE CREAM 🍦

drunk tattoos. neon lights. conspiratorial smiles. smashed phone screens. cheap wine. last night’s leftovers. walks of shame. scratches on backs. polaroid pictures. mischievous glances. glow sticks and glitter. crop tops. technopop. laughing til it hurts. bottles of vodka. messy bedrooms. dirt under fingernails. salty fries. bruised knees. doing it for the meme. scars with stories. lips between teeth. glossy lips. thumping bass. splashing puddles. throwing arms in the air. sleep is for the weak. bed head. wake and bake. adrenaline rushes. borrowed dollars. leaps of faith. live fast, die young.

NOODLES 🍜

starry nights. crossword puzzles. listening carefully. sci fi movies. art galleries. snorts of laughter. statement clothing. birds in flight. video games. catching fireflies. foreign films. angry tweets. stacks of books in the corner. saying the wrong thing. dramatic haircuts. taking the train. watching tv with subtitles on. highlighted pages. far off lands. pretending to be someone else. matcha. steamed up mirrors. people watching. documentaries. untied shoelaces. reminders on the back of the hand. underestimation. dad jokes. blanket burritos. nervous texting crushes.

SUSHI 🍣

candle-lit dinners. chilled wine. sound of stilettos on the sidewalk. twilight hours. lipstick on white collars. polished metal. few but close knit friends. love of higher society. hand on chest when laughing. french manicures. caprese salad. luxury watches. leather wallets. long walks on the beach. living peacefully. minimalistic decor. croissants and fruit. flower bouquets. sleek sweaters. well-made beds. pistachio macarons. the glow of a laptop. marie kondo methods. french press coffee. pressed linen. broadsheet newspapers. vanilla bean. grand pianos. long swims.

POPCORN 🍿

dark movie theaters. hand-holding. stuffed french toast. bulky sweaters. hot chocolate. heads on shoulders. beaten up converse. bowls of ramen. comfortable silence. pinky promises. old favorites. tight hugs. dusky evenings. gin and tonic. bubble baths. ruffled hair. slouchy shirts. carnival ferris wheels. amaretto sours. wide umbrellas. quiet murmurs. too many emojis. overstuffed couches. a push in the right direction. hand-me-downs. vcr collections. acoustic guitars. grandma’s casserole dish. sworn protectors. body warmth. aloe plants. waffle cones. dappled sunlight.

WAFFLE 🧇

careful notes. scrabble champions. never wrong. secluded cabins. under eye bags. never misses a phone call. the road less travelled. bitten lips. zoning out. keyboard warriors. cloudy lemonade. forgotten meals. ripples in water. debating at the dinner table. crossword puzzles in ink. crackling fires. best laid plans. paragraphs in journals. long stretches. budget spreadsheets. food magazines. thriving houseplants. practical advice. tailored clothes. raised eyebrows. protein shakes. filling the swear jar. decisive nods. leather couches. lined paper. reason over feelings.

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #31

#159 - Notice

It's Sam! I wish I had written down more about my decision to add her, although at this point I'm fairly sure I wasn't certain she was going to become a main character - in fact it was RIGHT around the week this posted that I began work on the first proper cover art for the series which of course did not include her.

Her design was based off this old one-off pin-up girl art from 2017, technically making her the first ever major Chamomile Comic character to exist, sort of.

She was named after Sam Lloyd, likely known for his portrayal of Ted the Lawyer from Scrubs. The news of his death had recently broken and I had just recently begun listening to Fake Doctors, Real Friends, the Scrubs rewatch podcast, as my go-to background entertainment when colouring the comic specifically each week. It still is now, albeit intermittently since they don't always produce an episode each week and I no longer have a backlog to catch up on. Now granted, I don't love the podcast as much as I used to - can be a bit cringey at times as these two hollywood actors chat about utterly unrelatable anecdotes from their lives - but it's overall been enjoyable and it'll be weird to find something new to accompany my colouring if it does come to an end or stops being enjoyable once they permanently pivot into... whatever they plan to do after they run out of Scrubs episodes. It's been part of my colouring process for the comic for longer than it hasn't been now, haha. So... yeah it felt right to honour that connection to my comic with Sam's name, on top of the fact that Scrubs is just straight-up one of my favourite TV shows and Ted was always a character that gave me big laughs.

Of course... I realised after that I'd introduced yet another character to the comic ending in "-a"! ...But whatever, it's a common thing. Not so long ago I had 5 co-workers simultaneously whose names also ended in -a, lol.

The decision to have had her always be around simply came from not having any strong ideas to introduce her and preferring the idea that at least some of the cast already knew her. The gag's been done before, but I thought it'd be extra funny to introduce her with a scene in which she is specifically announcing her departure from being a regular face in Cammie's life, which typically would mean the same for the audience in most works with actually established characters.

Final little bonus note - in panel 1, Cammie once again is entering with a handful of steaming coffee.

#160 - Official

I didn't really mean for it to be so small it's barely legible at web size, but the little sign on the panic alarm button behind the till says "Real emergencies only Cammie!", in reference to #50.

#161 - Before

All that Scrubs talk regarding Sam is kinda fitting, because they did the "this character was always here!" gag there too. For their one, they edited her in on various memorable shots and pretended the main character didn't notice her being present, here I obviously extended the frame on the end of several punchline panels from previous comics.

Here's a gif that shows the original panels compared to the new ones, showing both the new and old art isolated as well so you can see exactly what I drew to extend the older panels which naturally weren't drawn originally knowing that I would one day be extending them!

The second of the three Sam flashbacks is just a nice little bridging one, but it did take me a while to decide for sure which way around I wanted the first and third flashback panel. For the first: while there's been a little bit of mild bad language in the comic once the seal was broken here, Sam's "bitch" is the first time such language has appeared so it amused me to place it in a scene that has already happened long ago just barely outside of the audience's perspective. For the third: the joke is of course that the reveal of Sam's additional dialogue is particularly adding nothing to the scene whatsoever - like, as if Cammie making a fool of herself would even be remark-worthy at this point. I felt both these two goofs had a good punch to them in their own way so yeah, I remember being conflicted over whether I had chosen the funniest possible flow of these three gags.

Of course, the final joke of this one, in case it wasn't obvious (I could see it being subtle for some), is that Mimi's whole running gag is she's a side character who also has existed in the comic for long before her first on-screen appearance, yet Cammie never remembers her.

#162 - New

The art and dialogue structure of the first two panels here is identical to #160. I think it being a time-saver on my workload for the week was definitely a factor - for whatever reason I needed it at the time - but I also remember going for something with that choice beyond just that... But I can't for the life of me remember what. I don't think the parallel between the two comics adds anything reading them back now.

Anyway here's Newt! I really thought at the time that he was going to be as significant an addition as Sam, and I did come up with the idea of introducing a regular male character at the time I chose to bring Sam in, with Sam's introduction - and exit - being an amusing way to introduce a surprise new character.

...Then I proceeded to never really get any super strong story ideas for him lol. More detail on that in a second. I haven't forgotten him though, frustrates me that he keeps getting sidelined!

#163 - Training

Standard behind-the-scenes retail frustration humour here. I can neither confirm nor deny how much is based on my current employment. A little detail of authenticity/flavour is that they're watching a DVD intended for widescreen on an old non-widescreen TV that's clearly been in their staff room for at least a decade. Such was the case for my painful training videos too! (It's all online now as of a few years into when I started, so some progress has been made I guess).

#164 - Huh

It's not made clear yet, but the new status quo that Sam is a receptionist at a primary school is established here - the coloured hanging letter signage on the wall that is too perspective'd to read says "WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL".

I chose this as a job for her based simply on the fact that my Mum has often worked in school offices for most of my life. She wasn't a receptionist but it was the sort of job where I have some... vague enough memories of the "behind-the-scenes" enough to draw something along those lines when I needed to show Sam at work.

Getting back to Newt, obviously the goof here is that Cammie is just being a sore loser about her friend leaving and Newt is about the most cool-sounding interesting person you could imagine meeting. Unfortunately that involved specifically coming up with fun sounding stuff that are not super common to do or know people that do, so despite the super interesting combo of cave-diving, stand-up and polyamory these are all things I feel like I'd have to do thorough research on to represent in the actual comic accurately... which is something I'd like to do but, time is finite and I have so much pre-existing experience with being a silly nonsense person. Would you believe it, there's another character in the comic for whom that experience lends itself very well!!

Speaking of whom, the first appearance of the bell on the door in Repeat 1 Records was only a month after Cammie got the job. She works fast!

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#jezmm #chamomile comic trivia #art insight

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #30

#155 - Headphones

I admit, I came up with this joke almost as soon as I decided to have a character who wore a hijab, but I kept it in my back pocket for a good few years because I didn't want her to do anything to suggest she should be defined by the fact so soon.

Layla and Cammie are meeting up at "Café Cake" today, which is a reference literally only for myself.

For some reason, renaming Café Francis to Café Cake using 3D word props in a single stop-motion Kirby movie I made in 3D Movie Maker as a kid was of great amusement to myself and my older brother. It became a tradition that the café must always be renamed that in future projects, and I would be called out on it whenever I didn't bother to in future projects where I began to care a little more about "homebrewed props" being more inconspicious where possible.

#156 - Omelette

A slightly strange one in the grand scheme of the series, as I've never done quite an "out-of-fiction" entirely narrated one like this before or since. It's less obvious if you weren't there at the time, but this was due to the comic going up on Easter Sunday - every year I think "oh I can do an Easter comic this year!" before remembering that Easter moves and there is an opportunity to do an Easter comic EVERY year.

Here's the third panel without the text boxes, so you can see all the lovely things there are to put in an omelette!

#157 - Still

It took a few years but I eventually found myself able to bring myself to walk into a Subway to eat there again after quitting my job at one. Vienna's sentiments here more or less echo mine - I miss being able to make my own perfect sandwich! Just... just lemme go back there, I still remember all the food safety stuff, it's fine!

I can neither confirm nor deny whether I relate to Vienna not paying for her staff meals.

It's fun to see how much my standards for low detail blurry backgrounds increased in scope for this same location in the early comics too. Look at Cammie's table floating in a gradient void there! Simpler times!

#158 - Say

Just a silly cute one (that last panel of Cammie came out just as precious as I imagined it, I'm so glad!) that came from personal musings. It's confirmed here that Vienna has a cat but we've never seen them in the comic! She actually has two and I do have comics planned with them but they're a bit too written with us "meeting them for the first time" in mind, when all the characters have definitely met them at this point since they go to Vienna's on halloween comics and for Daydreams and Dangers sessions. I just need to figure out how to rework them a bit, we'll meet those cats one day.

It's visible in the comic but here's the book Cammie is reading:

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#jezmm #chamomile comic trivia #art insight

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #29

#151 - Awful

I remember this one came to me when good art friend Louistrations was chatting about a leaky ceiling or something similar he was suffering from. I hope it's long no longer an issue or you have a bucket to sleep with if not Louis!

I forget if this is the first time I've done it, but for a condense gag comic like Cammie, having little "The Next Day..." type captions just feels a bit off and breaks up the rhythm of the joke for me, which is why I instead went for a panel showing night and sunrise and outfit changes instead to imply the passing of a day.

#152 - Breakfast

Basically Cammie repeating an exact experience I had on the way to work once in full. Looking up photo reference for shop exteriors and such in the UK is always interesting, I never really notice how often the buildings of businesses have elaborate stuff like window boxes and such because they pretty much always have flats above or the building was never built with the modern business below in mind at all!

Oh yeah... and also this one published in March 2020. I think at this point I was two weeks ahead on producing the comic, and in that two weeks this comic aged terribly, coming out right at the point where panic buying began and the supermarkets became stupidly empty. The panic buying had already started when I drew it, so I felt the need to make sure I drew a fully stocked establishing shot of the supermarket to make it clear that panic buying wasn't the cause of the empty shelves Cammie observed, the pastries in the little supermarket bakery section just weren't out yet! But what took me by surprise is that two weeks later, when the comic published, that phenomena was still VERY much ongoing.

Here's the uncovered panel since I spent a good little while on it despite mostly being covered by speech bubbles! Still very basic once you really look at it, but a definite improvement on visual fidelity since #39!

And... who was that hiding behind a speech bubble this whole time!?

My old character Frogy, after some marmite as usual! It's hard to tell at this level of detail if it's really him... I wonder if Frogy is a franchise within the fiction of Chamomile (baby Cammie was wearing a t-shirt with him on in... hey, #39, the one I linked just above again!) and someone left their toy on the shelf here, or whether this is truly the first case of including an actual character cameo from another work of mine in Chamomile, confirming that it and Frogy take place in the same universe, with dire, dire lore implications! (I mean for a start he's a celebrity if Cammie had a t-shirt of him).

#153 - Office

A little follow-up to Layla's storyline since I was done with it but it never really got a conclusion to return to the status quo. I recall the joke was more or less a straight adaptation of a real life conversation, perhaps between Molly and I, though I forget the specifics at this point, 3 years later. It was also a fun opportunity to explore some in-universe humour, sometimes it's nice to just hang out with the characters making jokes among themselves rather than have them act erratically or larger-than-life in some way for the sake of humour.

#154 - Bush

I remember at this point - or at least two weeks prior when I began work on this comic, I made the firm decision I WASN'T going to have the pandemic happen in the comic. This was the point where it was all anyone could think about, and I would rather the comic remain a thing people could enjoy a laugh from every week detached from the real world. I also didn't want the safety conditions of the pandemic holding back the scenes or character interactions I could make.

In fact, at the same time I made this decision, I specifically started this comic with the idea of making a little oasis of tranquility from the rising stress of the situation, going with cloudgazing and drawing that first panel and trying to come up with a joke from there - this is one I literally just ad-libbed at the time instead of opening my notepad of ideas. It remains a little favourite of mine!

My only regret is that I wanted the space to have that fairly nice big panel at the top but needed somewhere for the first line of dialogue to go. I kept it floating just OUT of the panel to hopefully keep that first panel timeless and encourage readers to linger on it for a moment and percieve the atmosphere, but there's... something I'm not happy with it, I dunno, it doesn't quite work for my eyes, but might be entirely in my head!

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#jezmm #chamomile comic trivia #art insight #frogy splatoon

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #28

#146 - Really

This story arc was vaguely inspired by my job experience. I am A manager but not THE manager at my reluctant retail day job, but there's always something stupid happening and I've had to run the place for anywhere between a week to a month or two so many times over the years, so I had a few experiences to draw jokes out of.

#147 - My

Having said that, I feel no ownership or pride of authority, so this one is just fun with characters. In my head, the place that the customer goes to for buying something is just "the till" so I remember it took me a while to come up with, of all things, the words "service counter" - something for Layla to refer to that area by that didn't sound completely unnatural in dialogue.

#148 - Follow

Now this one IS very much based on my own experience going to management meetings and training days. Fleeting moments of inspiration in how to improve things and community with fellow management - followed by immediately getting slammed back down to earth by how hard the ideas would be to implement due to constantly stingy hours and how it's all just about making money in the end.

I remember once pointing out a hypocrisy in a company process during a training meeting. The trainer conceded to my point making sense then came to the conclusion of... "do it like we said anyway". Cool.

The fact that Layla is making notes and paying attention while veteran managers to her left and right doze off was also true to my experience, lmao.

#149 - Help

Very important lore drop here - the addition of the cute little staff only spiral staircase upstairs in the corner of the shop, which was a memorably fun thing to decide "I really want this in Cammie's shop, I'm always fascinated by them when I see them in a shop and ever since I was little always very upset I can't go up and down them" and then realise "right now I have to figure out how to draw that!!". I've checked the blurry backgrounds for the two comics where this corner of the shop was visible before and there wasn't any sign of it, so this is a very light retcon (those blurry backgrounds were very vague anyway though). A rare case of it being more sensible to draw the background in full since it was getting used for all 4 panels, so enjoy some uncensored spiral staircase:

I remember coming up with this joke when a Uni friend was visiting and we were just sort of riffing off each other with work related jokes or something, so this comic takes me back to fond memories of said visit generally!

If you look carefully you can see Layla has already performed her management teleportation spell in panel 3, behind the thief's open jacket.

#150 - Stop

The big 150! Well, it feels like a special number at this stage (250 also feels special, and then after that the 50s don't so much anymore for whatever reason). Either way I decided to do a quadruple lengther!

I haven't always followed this rule but I decided at this time at least, for extra-length comics, I still wanted each "page" to at least vaguely stand-up as a standalone comic too. In that context, the main purpose of going extra length is to keep the pace on a scene which I don't want dragging out across a whole month.

The spot Cammie runs by in this panel is the same one from comic #56, Cammie's footprints permanently a part of this street's history now. I know for sure these two extras in the foreground will show up in a few future comics when I couldn't be bothered to design new ones too.

The "helping the old ladies across the street" part of this chase is one of my favourite comedy scenes I've come up with over the years, I don't remember at all where it came from, I just enjoy it as a reader now, haha! I'm particularly proud his look back and Cammie's responding glare.

On the flipside I wish I could have come up with something a bit more meaningful than just "there is a dead end" to finish the chase but it's not really super important, the seagull joke is the point.

And now for something that hasn't come up in a Trivia post before - significant unused content!

For a short time I was thinking about following the above with a new arc dealing with an actual fallout from the shoplifting incident, with two comics scripted out. It's been years and I've never used or repurposed these so I think it's safe to share them. I reserve the right to still use a variance of these one day if it really feels right for another story though, not everyone reads these trivia posts, haha!

I'll let the scripts speak for themselves first.

Unused #151:

Unused #152:

From here the idea was that Bri and Cammie would have had a falling out for a little while (maybe a couple months worth of comics I was thinking) due to Bri, her dearest and most understanding friend, outright calling her stupid in the heat of her deep concern, sort of an expansion of the little moment where Vi genuinely hurt Cammie's feelings by referring to her "rampant idiocy" back in #59 / #62.

But as the deadline to begin work on the #151 approched I just wasn't coming up with anything I liked to follow that thread through, so in the end it didn't happen and we got... *flips page* a comic about Cammie putting a bucket on her head instead! Good stuff.

I still think canonically, Bri wouldn't have approved of Cammie's chase, but in this case she kept her frustrations to herself!

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #25

#129 - List

A bit of a convoluted setup, but I wanted to do something a little less directly halloweeny for October’s comics in 2019 and came up with this idea - I always have been a big fan of the ghostly-voices-heard-in-a-recording trope.

It’s only barely visible in the earlier panels with a speech bubble covering it in the one shown above here, but Cammie’s hair clamp from #117 is resting next to her bedside table.

#130 - Ghosts

For story arcs, I’ve always tried to make every single Chamomile Comic’s context possible to piece together even if someone hasn’t read the ones that came before it as best I can, but in this case the previous comic was so particular and unusual that Cammie would literally need to describe the entire scene that late readers will have just read, so I made a joke out of it instead, almost serving as a marker where I made the decision to not get hung up on it anymore when it’s too hard, lol.

#131 - Whispers

I didn’t choose Layla at random, it’s an important note that she’s the one who bought into Cammie’s nonsense here. It’s never really been the subject of any focus or story arc but I do think Cammie and Layla’s friendship has an unspoken flavour to it that feels a bit different from Cammie and Brianna’s, even though Cam and Bri are besties.

Having said that it presented me with the decision of whether to depict her without her hijab, and at this point in time I leaned away from the idea. Being brutally honest, I kind of expected people to make a big deal out of seeing her without it - it’s sort of an unfortunate but understandable downside of also being a femme-focused pin-up artist, having a cast of women, and drawing it all in a cute art style. A lot of people are here who admire cute feminine character art and I’d be a hypocrite to say there’s anything inherently wrong with that when that’s literally what half my art is! I think I was right with this judgement too, because I definitely did get a comment or two from folks who were all “aww I thought we were gonna get to see her hair”. I know there’s tons of people who like me would shift their mindset to think nothing of it, but I know the folks who don’t would kind of bug me, so I think it’s easier to just not.

Having said all of this, I can’t deny it was a really fun artistic challenge to come up with a way to hide her lack of hijab in the nighttime scene without it feeling intentionally like an Austin Powers prop censorship gag - at least that was my hope!

Realistically I don’t think she would be wearing a cap around Cammie in the morning scene - in more recent comics of course we had another scene where Cammie and Layla shared a room, and I decided to go for a middleground where the point of her hijab is still kept for the audience but I was a little more relaxed about it, since I’ve read threads from folks who wear hijabs who feel it’s misrepresentational to depict them being worn 24/7.

#132 - Accent

Not much to say here.  I swear there was a story or inspiration behind the gag of Cammie’s sleeptalking, but it’s gone forever now! I did enjoy deciding that the pure and innocent Cammie has horrifically unsettling dreams that she thinks nothing of.

#133 - Cereal

This was just a one-off gag I had in the idea bank for a while that I never quite knew how to do. The punchline of “all these cereals have expired” was always there and this could have just been a Cammie at home talking to herself strip, but somehow said punchline didn’t feel as funny talking to herself as it did to another character, no idea why. This arc was a perfect opportunity to finally use it even though it doesn’t tie into the actual story of the arc whatsoever (which is fine of course, it’s November by now).

Cammie’s cereals are:

Sugar Crunch (with added Vitamin), a broad parody of sweet cereal Moist Nuts, which is just some funny words Frog Flakes, with regular JezMM mascot Frogy of course Mostly Bran, a parody of All-Bran Wheated Bix, a parody of Weetabix Corny Puns, both a parody of Corn Flakes and one of many silly cereal names that showed up in my old comic Phantasm Dyad, in the episode where they were tracking down the cause of a gaggle of inanimate object ghosts found on the beach - a Cereal Killer.

Funnily enough, another cereal in that comic was “Corned Flakes”, which is basically the same joke as Wheated Bix. Mr. Burns saying “I am enjoying this Iced Cream” in The Simpsons was one of those humour-defining moments for me as a kid I think.

#134 - Dark

Just complaining through my characters here.  I hate when the clocks go back and would always rather have more light in the afternoon than the morning.  Having the daylight end at 4pm is so depressing, but waking up in the dark and having it get light as your day begins is sort of romantic to me.

I do like how this one has sort of unique lighting - very few comics that take place exactly at dusk like this and I tried to capture that vibe even though it’s just a standard blurry background.

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #24

#125 - Speaking

This phone call is pretty much verbatim one I had at work, including incorrect shop name, incorrect town, asking for a confirmation that I was definitely not in a completely different shop in a completely different town, and that sign-off.  I was dumbfounded, but my first thought was “well, thanks for the free comic, stranger.”  It didn’t feel like substantial enough a comic on it’s own though so I decided to double-down on funny customer stuff with what came next, which I’m thankful to say, was an original exaggerated scenario on my part.

Lyndhurst is an intentional shout-out to a real, lovely little town in the New Forest area of the UK which I visited on holiday and had a lovely slice of cake and coffee in a corner tea shop that Google Maps tells me no longer exists, boo.

Layla’s box warns not to place any items on top of it, which of course the present annoying customer does.  The final quick little joke that I hoped everyone picked up on is said customer complaining that the radio plays awful music, considering, y’know, the music that comes out of a radio is at least partially the user’s own selection.

#126 - Previously

A personal little favourite one of mine.  The original joke was just “parody “Previously On...” segments in TV shows that makes it very obvious the seagull will have something to do with the comic, and then have it not show up”.  But I kept riffing on the initial non-reveal of the pigeon at the window and just got sillier and sillier to the point where I was like “is this too far for the tone of the comic?” but I was chuckling away to myself making it so much that I just decided to roll with it.

Turns out “Pizza Boys” is a real TV show - not the gritty crime drama genre that Cammie appears to be watching though, and I believe my comic predates it too, so maybe I did google it at the time and found nothing.  The pigeon at the window is a rather strange design because it is in fact the same pigeon from my 2015 24-Hour Comic Day Comic: “Nuts” (to read: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3).  Future Cammie is using a ladder, but the window cleaner isn’t. He canonically has terrifyingly long legs.  Future Cammie’s inexplicable maid outfit comes from this End of Month Pin-Up (and popped up again for Apricot Calendar 2019).  The eyepatch, shaved haircut and trench coat just come naturally from being from the future, of course.

I remember a bunch of webcomics I grew up with in my teenage years like Dragon Tails and maybe Real Life Comics used to enjoy doing a bit of time travel stuff where they’d plan stuff out in advance so when you went back to earlier comics, there’d be background events that show those time travel plots were always destined to happen!  I have no such plans for Cammie, and as said, this comic was just the result of me having a bit of a silly, but now it’s done and part of the comic, it feels like a sort of subtle homage to those time travel plots that once seemed like a thing all webcomics ought to do sooner or later (or earlier!  dohoho time travel!!).

#127 - Unreasonable

Another one I really like.  It’s a pretty-well covered joke but I’m just happy with how my own take on it came out here.  Brianna continues to be my spirit animal here, I truly hate how christmas overshadows all other holidays towards the latter half of the year. It’s funny seeing any pre-2020 reference to the year 2020. That number fills us all with such dread now.

Hard to tell at web size but of course the advent calendar Brianna has picked up is Frogy themed:

Those penguin toys on the shelves... I have a default way of drawing penguins if I don’t put effort into them that is absolutely basically entirely the “penguin” design from “Bang on the Door”:

This brand was everywhere in the early 2000′s with a focus on stationary (”groovy chick” was probably the most popular design, you probably knew someone or two with a folder or pencil case at school/college). I love this penguin, I had that toy too.  It’s permanently overwritten what my brain thinks cartoon penguins look like. This lil’ guy just lives in my head rent free and I have to look at a picture of an actual penguin to draw them anything close to properly.

#128 - Wireless

A silly physical comedy one - I’m pretty sure it’s physically impossible to knock wireless headphones out with a hair fluff, but this is Cammie’s hair we’re talking about.  It was fun to learn how to actually draw a street drain for that close-up (as oppose to how I’ve always drawn them which is a rectangle with a load of lines down it), and Jez is always allowed a little Draw Cammie In Her Sports Bra Again, as a treat.

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Hm! Chammy (I'm never not gonna call her that~) seems surprisingly hopeful about that crush. Never pegged her for a romantic, somehow! Kind of makes me want a "What If?" comic where Vi actually did confess to Chammy, if only to see what she does with it…

Shame it's only half way to April~

Haha, I did wonder how people would interpret this moment - it's hard to convey everything simply through facial expressions (but I guess not revealing everything is what they call nuance... which I shall now remove all of by answering further).

In similar vein to this older comic, Chamomile isn't especially interested in romance for herself. Cammie just really likes to be liked, and finds the idea of someone having a crush on her equal parts a massive compliment and hilarious. She would simultaneously be thinking "haha heck yeah you're romantically interested in me, I'm awesome" and "I can't believe you can actually imagine being in a relationship with me, do you have any idea what I'm like!?".

These are the complex thoughts swirling behind her face at this moment.

Once she's calmed down, I don't think Cammie would outright reject her, but on a personal level she wouldn't be especially excited by the prospect of dating Vi. She would probably be so flattered that she'd be at least be willing to try casually dating and spending more one-to-one time together to see if anything's there. But she'd lay out from the start to Vi that that's what they're doing, and even though that's Cammie's way to being loving and honest to her friend, Vi would privately be a little hurt that a testing phase was required instead of just being a "yes" from the start. With all this in mind... I don't think they'd last.

Thank you for reading my pitch for a fanfic of my own comic.

(Sorry Viennomile shippers, feel free to come up with your own AU where it works out!)

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[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #26

#135 - Closed

The server here is my coffee day girl, a one-off pin-up character (technically a two-off one), swirls and all!

The pod she’s working in is named “It’s Bean” which is a joke only for me really. Back in high school I made a comedic RPG Maker game and - not even as a joke, I just liked the song that much, the main overworld theme was One Week by Barenaked Ladies.  Not even a tacky midi version as was the style at the time, just straight up the MP3.  The epilogue scene where you return to the main town after beating the final boss played an acoustic version I downloaded, I took it quite seriously.  So it became a sort of mini meme among my immediate friendship group after someone was like “god the music makes me laugh every time, I’ll be listening to a befitting Gerudo Valley midi while exploring the desert area or a pleasant Koopa Troopa Beach midi while exploring the seaside area and then you go back to the main town and out of nowhere “IT’S BEEN-””.

Cammie vacantly shlooourping the coffee at the end after being in severe pain beforehand - and the imagined circumstances that bridged the time between the last panel of the coffee pod scene and the first panel of the music shop scene - are one of my fave daft visual gags from over the years.

#136 - Dinner

Time to come up with Cammie’s family, what fun!  There’s always the temptation to go ironic and have them be utterly unlike her, but she’s such a beacon of positivity I just didn’t want to betray those vibes, so they’re all pretty much as full of energy or kindness as she is.  Naturally the joke is that Cammie is more interested in a dog than a relationship, but the fact that she’s uninterested in a relationship is still true to her character, not just for joking’s sake.

The general plot here was just that I wanted to do an extended christmas scene that would hopefully evoke all the cosy vibes I associate with christmas from my own family’s ones over my life.

#137 - Family

And here we see Cammie’s brothers!  There’s nothing concretely referencial here in particular but I definitely channeled memories of growing up with my own older brother and younger sister coming up with the wholesome flashbacks.  I did design everyone’s adult appearance beyond just Riley and then designed their younger selves, but unfortunately Hubert and Jay still haven’t shown up beyond these flashbacks so not for this trivia, alas!

Hubert has an Orange Squish (mentioned plenty of times in Cammie Comic trivia at this point I’m sure) soda brand pencil case, like those old 7up ones.  Do they still make those?  They probably did ones in other brands too but I had a 7up one.

#138 - Merry

Not too much to say here, naturally Cammie’s mum takes more cues from Cammie for her design, but Cammie got her curls from Dad!  Designing family members is fun, lol.

No big meaning behind anyone’s names, just chose ones I liked really that all kinda tied in with the idea of “is it easy enough to believe these people would name their child Chamomile?” lol.

#139 - While

ONE of Cammie’s family members at least had to share her trademark forehead hair swirlies, they’re cartoon characters, c’mon!  Riley here has a more subtle version of them.  Probably the only thing subtle about him.

Just a few more drips and drabs of poor Bri’s slightly turbulent childhood here, just to flesh out her and Cammie’s early relationship a bit.

Boy the speech bubbles sure are crowding everything on this one huh?  One of my bad habits with comicing that I’m trying to be more conscious of these days.  But it’s one way to make the Christmas special cosy!

#140 - Wonderful

If I was doing cosy family christmas comics I had to take the opportunity to draw a big ol’ spread of roast dinner.  Like me and any self-respecting person they have a mountain of roast potatoes, the best roast dinner food.

Grumpy Cammie is another favourite Cammie I have ever drawn.

It’s a tired old joke but, including in the previous one where it was highlighted, 12-going-on-13-year-old Cammie’s niece Jody has already entered her teenage mono-syllabic phase, with her only dialogue in the whole arc being non-verbal noises.

#141 - Desserts

A little more development for Brianna here, because I wanted to explain how someone who doesn’t seem like the sort to actively pursue such responsibility might end up running their own business.  And then another “don’t let Cammie near fire” joke of course.

The sitting room area here was (lazily, but you don’t know that), based on the layout of the sitting room at my Mum’s house back when I was in Uni, felt like the obvious choice since I associate christmasses there with the first time my partner Molly joined us.

The post-foods “just hanging out” christmas mood was an important time for me to cover as well - adults watching TV and chatting while children do things with stuff they got sort of in the vicinity.  Jody is eating a Terry’s Chocolate Orange to complete the experience, naturally!  (It’s not Terry’s though, it’s Dawn French’s Jody’s.)

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For Chamomile: 3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 28, 29, 30, 33, 37, 43, 48

Sorry I put this off for ages, you asked so many and every time I remembered up until now I just didn't have the time! For anyone else who wanted to ask anything and missed the original post, it's here.

3. Do they collect anything?

Books, but she's fairly proactive about having a clear-out every few years.

4. What is their favorite music genre?

She mostly listens to popular pop/rock stuff but she does tend to buy albums rather than just listening to the top 40 singles going around. She also still likes all the pop/soft rock stuff her Dad listened to when she was little.

7. What is their shoe size?

Whatever size I drew her feet that day I'm still working on being good at those.

8. Do they have a favorite fabric or texture?

Not really, but she likes cosy blankies and big soft cushions etc.

13. Did they have a favorite comfort item as a child?

Nah, she was always running from one thing to the next and is very people-oriented. Whatever family member she was with she'd probably be sitting on the lap of or cuddling up to with whatever they were doing.

28. What sound do they hate the most?

No unique/fun answer coming to me on this one, probably standard annoying sounds!

29. What video game would appeal to them the best?

For single player she would only ever really play casual stuff like mobile games, the Sims, etc, but she enjoys playing multiplayer games with friends and will do her best to understand whatever genre you throw at her if she can.

30. How would they relax on a day off/rainy day?

She likes to hang out with friends whatever the weather, but otherwise you can find her reading, watching TV or looking at fashion stuff online.

33. What is their personal style? Favorite outfit?

She has a lot of confidence about her appearance and likes to look good. She's not necessarily into runway fashion that much but is happy when she can look in the mirror and think "yep this could be a poster in a clothes shop window".

37. Do they prefer to be really cold or really warm?

She likes summer weather better than winter but like most of us prefers it mild.

43. What do they think is their worst quality? What is their actual worst quality?

She thinks she's annoying to some people due to the reactions of folks like Vienna etc, but literally doesn't know what to do about it so just carries on and rolls with the punches. Some might say her worst quality is that she tends to act/speak upon the first thought that pops into her head, manifesting in what feels to most like a lack of common sense. But just as often this can lead to situations that endear her to others due to her sincerity and honesty, so like, sure it's her "worst trait" but by who's standard?

48. What are they most afraid of?

She's completely incapable of dealing with jumpscares. While she worries about being seen as annoying, she's hopeful that people still like or tolerate her in spite of that. She fears being truly hated, even by someone who she actively doesn't care about. A friend saying "who cares, that guy's a jerk anyway..." might help some people out of that funk, but not her.

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #27

#142 - Decorations

The little slightly creepy looking Santa in Brianna's box of decorations is the very same as this creepy robot Santa I drew for some reason in response to a funny conversation with my late friend Audi.

Annoyingly I cannot for the life of me find the original drawing but I did find this equally inpenetrable in-joke follow-up art at least.

As we find out at the end of the year, Cammie committed and did not take down her christmas decorations! My intention at the time was that all year, any comics set in Cammie's sitting room I would have little background hints that her decorations were still up. I then proceeded, without thinking about it, to only have one panel set in Cammie's sitting room for the entire rest of the year, so I never got to realise this background joke in the end.

#143 - Accessories

Puns, what's more to say!? Layla's outfit originated from this pin-up, and the cactus design is another old joke "character" of mine that has popped up in a few things I've made across the past decade or two.

#144 - Bits

I remember this joke with Cammie being one I had in my head for a long time that really made me chuckle and I waited a long time for a scenario/story idea to come up where it would fit into conversation smoothly. It is kinda funny that at the time Cammie was only super hourglassy compared to my existing characters though, I feel in the grand scheme of the internet and sexy girl artists Cammie is comparitively mild and practically down-to-earth with her hip width and for some readers the joke might not even land, lol. At least Vienna's dialogue informs it.

The scenario was also mildly based off a memorable moment in high school's first year where for some reason we were given lockers (us, the first years without mountains of coursework that might need storage), and the only time I ever remember "using" them was my best friend at the time (who was quite small) successfully climbing inside one entirely. They weren't full person height ones like in american TV shows so this was an achievement! Our form tutor caught us doing it and disagreed.

#145 - Warm

And here's the comic with that one living room panel, and the camera is pointed right at the door so there wasn't much room for stuff anyway!

I naturally came up with this joke while doing washing up in the winter when the house was cold and having the same thoughts of not actually wanting to stop yet. It feels like a bit of a hard-sell relatable comic since it's not really something you think about outside of the moment, but hopefully it was funny anyway. Bonus joke of course that the flowers in her vase are still sopping wet and dripping, implying that she dunked the entire thing, flowers and all, into the kitchen sink to clean it.

I still really like the art on this one, especially the perspective kitchen shot pictured above!

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #23

#118 - Quiet

I suffer from hayfever and as such, the ettiquette of saying “bless you” has sort of run dry on me over the years. I’m already annoyed enough that whatever I’m doing is being interrupted by sneezing 15 times in a row, there’s no need to draw attention to it.  Whatever soul or demon you think you’re driving back inside me with your words left several decades ago!  So yeah, that’s what inspired this one - it is interesting to see how many times it takes before people stop saying it (usually two or three).

I had fun drawing Bri as dishelved by the experience as possible.

#119 - Fresh

Mimi’s first appearance, apart from a brief early cameo on Brianna’s work schedule in comic #60:

(As mentioned in a previous trivia, the doodle in that comic was designed to be distinct enough to base a character on later, but otherwise I hadn’t designed her until now).  Mimi has always been a name I liked - funnily enough I actually came to know someone with the name only a month or two after this comic (via the series even, they were the significant other of a friend/mutual who followed me after discovering the Chamomile randomly on tapas).  I don’t tend to use the names of people I know for OCs, so Cammie’s Mimi came to be just in time to not be called something else lol.

If it isn’t clear, the goal with Mimi is that beyond being ever-present in Cammie and Bri’s life, she’s a super memorable person in terms of charisma and appearance too, and yet, mirroring the fact that she’s always been off-camera up to this point, Cammie has no memory of her. One of my cartoonier gags but it’s one I’m weirdly fond of even if it means Mimi has been fairly one-note over the years in her few appearances.  Her appearance here and now was just a decision to just flesh out the world a little - clarify that Brianna does actually have a few other members of staff, she doesn’t run the The Cubby all by herself like some sort of cartoon character. So... yeah, it’s ironic that I used such a cartooney joke to illustrate this, lol.

Barely trivia for my long-time followers, but she is wearing earrings of my childhood character Frogy, who has cameo’d a couple other times in Cammie so far.

#120 - Sea

I don’t THINK I planned out this whole beach arc from the start - I just figured I’d think of beach stuff to make jokes about as I went. In addition, considering they live in a seaside town, I felt a need to address why the beach hadn’t shown up as a location more often now that we were 100 comics strong. I remember thinking how incredibly dumb I was for forgetting what happened to Cammie in the only other comic set at the beach to date at this point.

Getting the realistic seagull close-up’s vacant expression JUST right took a while, I remember. I was literally adjusting at the pixel-level to find what I thought was the exact funniest middleground between an intimidating piercing stare in Cammie’s direction and an utterly threatless vacant expression.

#121 - Nostalgic

Bri gets nostalgic of younger days. Boy I sure hope she doesn’t ruin anyone’s summer trip with this nonsense in about 200 comics time!

The last three panels deliberately mirror the earlier flashback comic of young Bri and Cam:

#122 - Kind

Another case where I was showing sentiments of Vienna being into history without wanting to draw too much attention to it either - just let it be a subtle character thing. Can you believe that giving your OCs interests other than your own means you have to RESEARCH stuff? I had to find out some details about medieval castles to make sure Vi’s was close to historically accurate, but the more interesting thing to research would be how on earth she made all that detail with a children’s beach bucket and spade.

#123 - Evening

Nothing too much to say about this one! I just wanted to draw this as a scene, and came up with the joke in the process. It’s funny how establishing a running gag makes a comic like this feel like a gimme in retrospect, but this was actually the comic that made the gag running - prior to this, Cammie had only had one unfortunate fire encounter in #53.

#124 - September

And the “Cammie and friends go to the beach” arc ends with a little “Webcomic Time” trope joke. It’s been done bunch of times before, my spin on it was tying it into the fact that time really does fly like that when you’re an adult, actually!  And of course I bookend with another Mimi joke - beyond just being a memorable character, this incredibly memorable unseen storyline centered around her apparently happened during the part of the year the comic didn’t cover and Cammie can’t remember that either.

I did always plan to keep the story of that day as a potential bonus content type dealie if I ever reach a time where I can afford to make bonus content as well as the main comic!  It’d spoil the joke of everything Mimi-related being so off-camera of course but... I haven’t written off ever covering it just for the sake of preserving the joke in this one comic.  Maybe one day we’ll find out what happened, but don’t worry too much about it if not, I think Mimi came out of it just fine.  Well, maybe.

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #22

#112 - Certain

Pretty simple comic based on a thought that popped into my head after I had the same experience Cammie describes.  Can’t remember if the punchline of Layla’s response just came to me or if I had to squeeze it out of the premise! 

#113 - Weird

The second edition of “I came up with a punny joke and just decided to use it completely unorganically as comic fodder instead of just posting it on my personal twitter when I thought of it”.

Also god I wanna slap my past self around the head for thinking I somehow didn’t need to use reference for profile views what is going on with Cammie’s face/neck/hairline here argh!

#114 - Music

The first album the customer holds up here is a doodly little version of the Team Sonic Racing soundtrack, which I guess I was listening to a lot at the time!  The other two albums he holds up were, I think, just random original doodles.  The third might’ve been someone on TV at the time or something, not sure!  I should really start writing these trivia posts as I make the comics rather than several years after, maybe!

#115 - Girl

A long while back I decided to make Chamomile’s canonical birthday the same day as the day I first drew her, which happened to be June 30th.  Since this was the first year the comic update fell on that day, I decided to make it a comic!

Here she turns 28, and sure enough, two years earlier, Brianna said she was 26. However... since then, I’ve kinda quietly switched over to a floaty timeline.  Webcomic time moves slowly, and thus the characters felt like they would age too quickly for the amount of life events I have time to cover in the comic.  So for the time being, Cammie remains 28 canonically, Layla and Brianna remain definitely within the same year as her on account of being school friends, and Vienna and Samantha remain... whatever they are (they’re older than the other three, but not by much).

Brianna’s worn this outfit a few times over the years since this comic, but if I recall you never actually get a really good look at it due to the poses/framing I needed in all those comics.  It says “NO CAUSE FOR A...” and has a Llama underneath.

The final note of trivia on this one... as previously mentioned, on platforms where I provide a title for the comic, it’s always just a single word from as early in the dialogue as possible, regardless of whether that word is a decent title for the comic’s subject or not (so as to not spoil or raise any expectations for the subject of the gag).  I also never repeat the same word twice... except in this case, where for literally years, this comic was named “Birthday”, same as #109, not even ten comics ago!  At time of writing (September 2022) I think it was only within this year that I noticed and corrected this (utterly pedantic that I only I care about) mistake.

#116 - Laundry

Not much to say about this one, if I recall this was just one of those divine gifts my brain figured out on automatic for me.  To this day it remains one of my favourite silly Cammie visual gag comics and I can’t see myself ever removing it from the new reader/sample comic selection on the comic’s home page.  Naturally you can spot a bunch of familiar colours (and a couple patterns) from existing outfits in Cammie’s laundry basket such as her signature outfit, the rose pattern skirt and her designed coffee t-shirt.

I also think I was VERY well-behaved to not clutter up the experience with fanservice even though the scenario was ripe for it.  I’m sure that’ll get me a few heckles and boos from the audience but I say if you can’t enjoy Cammie at her [funny comic] you don’t deserve her at her [sexy pinup]!!

#117 - Hair

This was a fun old one to do, I’ve definitely had a few snapped hairbands over the years and my lucious locks are nowhere near Cammie’s level!  I remember drawing the vice was really tricky because there was little in the way of references at the precise angle I needed for maximum comedic effect and sense-making (as much as it ever could).

As usual for when I need to draw a bunch of CDs from the shop, I put my iTunes library on shuffle, set album artwork to display and just drew little 5 second doodles of what came up because coming up with like 40 original ideas, even at this low fidelity, is a nightmare for something that isn’t really going to be paid attention to.  I can Childish Gambino’s "Awaken, My Love!", Lazlo Bane’s All the Time in the World, and Ryan Roth’s The Beginner’s Guide Soundtrack here, but several others look specific enough to definitely be something.  Seems I randomised the colours though and doodled the designs on after, mind.

Drawing a comic sequence of someone tying hair is really tricky to break down into key poses!  It was also a fun challenge to find a way to imply significantly more failed attempts than I had time to show in the comic (with the panel above being my solution).

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #21

#105 Occasion

That rainbow dress was one of the worst ideas I had to put Vienna in for a story arc. It was so time-consuming to colour!  And then I went and used it for another even longer story arc later on too!  One of those things I probably could have done really easily and quickly in a program with more tools like Photoshop/PaintShop Pro/ClipStudio Paint etc, but I just did it manually in SAI like a fool.

A lot of people misinterpreted Vienna’s initial line to Bri as being that THEY were going on a date (the foreshadowing haha!).  I saw this coming when I was making the comic but just couldn’t think of any way to avoid it. Naturally Brianna asserts the situation as quickly as possible for the reader as a result, that was the best I could manage.

#106 Pathetic

The main purpose of this arc was to give Cammie and Vienna a bit of alone time and build up their friendship more. This also the first comic to ever show hints of Vienna’s eyes, via her eyelashes behind her glasses in the last few panels.  More of that to come in this arc!  Maybe that was the main purpose then, actually.

#107 Start

Lianne, like many of the (particularly named) incidental characters in Cammie, was designed with the intent of having her look stand-out as a character who could potentially return in the future if need be.  Hasn’t happened yet, but you never know!  I did a quick sketch of her to feel out her design before committing to it, which was posted at the time.

I was also already thinking about Vienna developing a crush on Brianna later on at this stage, so as you can see, Lianne does adhere to Vienna’s taste in terms of physical appearance.

Cammie acting like a nonsense sillyhead here makes me chuckle still.  Again, while the situation hasn’t called for it much (if at all) since, I need to remember to be consistent about her being a terrible actor because it’s always a classic gag.

#108 Watch

Not much to say here.  Location wasn’t modelled off anywhere in particular from my life.  Depicting repetitive back and forth motions like nodding and shaking heads is a nightmare in comics lol.

#109 Birthday

You might remember from a few trivias back, my weird little goal to not draw any male characters in the comic for at least the first 100 comics lol. That finally ends here with the appearance of generic random barman in panel 4. And of course a few random extras in panel 5. Here’s that at full size, just for fun:

Vienna looks extra funny here because I had to make sure her expression would be readable at final web size, hehe.

#110 Match

Can’t think of anything to say about this one. Bye Lianne!  We already had too many characters with “ia” in the name anyway. That was a total accident lol.  Our first sneak peak at Vienna’s eyes!  You can just see the top of them behind her glasses when she’s holding her forehead in anguish.

#111 Grind

And if that was too subtle, she lifts them up with a (closed!) eye in full view here.  As we know about Bri’s sexuality from later on, this was a totally platonic kiss. Since I hadn’t dedicated myself to the Vienna-crushes-on-Bri plot yet, Vienna’s response here could be taken either way.

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Chamomile Comic Trivia #20

#101 Now

I guess I should count my blessings that while I do work retail, it’s at least a relaxed enough pace that I can get away with this ol’ chestnut.  Of course, we now know from later comics that Sam was just off the side of the screen in that last panel the whole time (well... not actually the whole time, I guess that’s the joke).  For those who don’t know, “PSHE” stands for Personal, Social & Health Education, which I believe is typically called “Social Ed” in North America. That one weird class where you learn about sex and jobs and don’t understand how any of it will ever be relevant, only to grow up and realise that you were right, it was a completely barebones introduction to every topic covered and totally irrelevant. I hope things are better these days, lol.

#102 App

Parodying Pinterest, naturally.  Which I’ve never used properly other than to marvel at how much resposted art ends up there.  Designing believable UI for phone screens is one of the most tedious parts of comics making for me.  If I had a cleaner art style I could probably get away with using vectors for that sorta thing, but I find it looks too conspicious next to my thick ol’ freehand lines.

#103 Rent

Time for some world-building!  We finally see where Cammie lives!  I did a few little bits of concept art to solidify this for my own reference:

The backstory is that Mrs Beaufort here used to use the whole house, but when family moved out and she and her husband got older, they built the outdoor staircase and added a front door to the top half to rent it out.  Beyond that though, the floor plan likely makes no sense to ever exist, lmao.  Who knows where the interior staircase used to be.

The floor plan mostly is consistent with the snippets of fully drawn areas of Cammie’s flat seen before in both the comic and pin-ups. It was decided she lived upstairs thanks to the bedroom pin-up from before the comic having the tops of houses in view outside.  The only one that isn’t consistent is the kitchen remake pin-up, where the garden outside looks pretty ground-level, but let’s just say that’s a trick of perspective!  I also got rid of those curved counter-tops, her flat isn’t THAT fancy!

The final oddity to come from adhering to existing material is the lack of upstairs main window where Cammie’s sitting room is - again just done to be consistent with existing comics.  I guess technically I could’ve just put the downstairs front door on the left instead of the right and done the two front big windows there!  Apparently I commited to how the downstairs door/window was arranged and didn’t even consider to re-do it...  Oh well lol.  I don’t think there are many houses out there without having at least A window in a prominent position like this, even if it’s not one that matches the downstairs, so let’s say that was another eccentric re-design decision of the Beaufort family.  I added the wall-climbing flowers to the front to at least make it a feature, because just leaving it empty was super strange looking.

I really like weird little “cosy” design decisions, but I didn’t have much room to include those in Cammie’s flat while still having it be sort of believable as something a young person might have been able to luck themselves into, the fact that the outdoor staircase is wooden and has that little enclosed space at the top is my little sprinkle of cosy design aesthetic though.

At the time of writing (comic 249), the little storage room behind the wall next to Cammie’s kitchen table is the only room of her flat we haven’t seen in the comic yet!  The empty square next to the storage room I think I imagined being some kind of support column, but the house already doesn’t really make sense so I reserve the right to make that a secret shaft going down to a mysterious underground labyrinth if I really run out of plot ideas later on.

#104 Pillow

And just a simple little one here that I’m sure pet owners of all kinds can relate to. I can easily trust that they find interaction with their human to always be more engaging than whatever they appear to be enjoying, my concern is that I won’t live up to their expectations in that regard and they’ll be less content than they were before, even if they don’t remember what they were doing to actually figure out why that’s the case!

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