Seems doing an “Abbey Road” take-off is mandatory for rock and roll comics like 1977. I wasn’t about to actually draw them crossing Abbey Road mainly as it’s been over-done, and I’m not drawing all those damn cars in the background!
I actually have some logic to the order in which the 1977 gang appears in comparison to the Abbey Road album cover. First, Jeff is a guitarist so taking up George Harrison’s spot was a natural… Jeff is also laid back like George, so bingo! Next should be the bass player, but… Paul McCartney was also the Beatles resident cutie-pie (one for the girlies you know) and THAT is Lorraine, so she’s next. Of course drummer Robyn has to appear where Ringo walked, which leaves us Bud in John Lennon’s place. Bud is the “leader” of the group as he pushed to form the band and now is pushing to record a demo… even though we know the ladies are in charge, Bud is the token leader of the band.
Ta-da. The title is from Cream and a song I never get tired of even after 40 some odd years. Eek…
🙂
I can see you’re fielding a liberal take on the concept of “hiatus.”
This was not hard to do and it keeps me drawing. I have a tendency to stay away from full figures in the cartoon… mostly as it makes their facial details so small, but drawing them from the waist up gets boring too… hmm… that’s gonna open up some comments…
Anyway, this is the time to experiment with different concepts that aren’t in this year’s storyline too… I have a couple “Stoner Vision” concepts I’m playing with too.
I’ll try to keep you all amused during the hiatus… 🙂
awesome
I always love the Beatles references
Nifty. Is Bud about to claim their band is bigger than Jesus like the beetles did? LoL.
For some reason rather than hearing Beetles music in my head when I look at the strip I am hearing “The Monkeys” instead…weird.
RE: mavrick45 – I’m not a die-hard fan, but you cannot ignore their contribution to rock and roll; one that shall never be surpassed.
Everyone should own the “Hard Day’s Night” soundtrack, Sgt. Pepper’s and of course Abbey Road. Three albums that define rock and roll of that era. I listened to Abbey Road just the other day and the production work stands up today. It even had synthesizers for Christ’s sake! In 1969?! They were the Beatles and money was no problem!
🙂
RE: Rhuen – Given that Bud is a klutz like me, then I’d say he’ll say something for sure to mess up like that at some point!
And Lennon was taken SO out of context in the media by his comment (Just like Rush Limbaugh!) and the truth was, THEY were bigger then Jesus. I can name most of their big hits. Bible verses? Not so much…
🙂
Too bad the Beatles released it in 69. Otherwise, you could’ve named it Abbey Road. That’s pretty cool how the stances are pretty much exact. Even Bud’s halfway closed and Lorraine’s cigarette. I also just noticed the girls don’t wear shoes. Hm. I usually notice stuff like that.
Glad to see you doing some Beatles-referenced work.
Hell, glad to get any fresh work before the hiatus ends in August; man, I hate singing, “Though we gotta say goodbye for the summer…”
Anyways, you know my weakness, the Beatles-themed jokes. That makes me reccomend the strip to the other diehard fans looking for stuff like that.
I see a nice wallpaper for the subscribers… 🙂
If someday you intend to improve the scene, you could do something about poor McKenna’s face. The face with the hair turned out pretty “alien”…hehehe
And longer legs for everyone! 😀
Character profiles are a bitch unless you draw round headed characters like the Simpsons or Peanuts.
I am striving for a more cartoony look to 1977, as it is a comic strip. I am not an illustrator by any means, nor do I want to be one, so I will continue to develop my cartoon skills and you’re going to see the characters evolve over time (they have already changed a ton in just 18 months).
The body to head ratios are not too bad really, and again, this is more my style of drawing. I am not into super long legs on my characters, and these seem okay, maybe a tad short, but better than I use to do.
I had consider this a wallpaper but I’m not sure. If I did the entire Abbey Road background, then it would be worth it, and the background alone would take a TON of time as there is many, many cars, trees, sidewalks, walls and people in the scene. We’ll see how the year rounds out for us all!
Have a good summer!
Even though you’re kickin’ back, I like the fact that you still hit us fiends up with some new material to keep the hungry masses somewhat appeased. 🙂
Nice to see “hiatus” just means working slower! 😉
Crossroads is also one of my favourites as well, and you’re right, 40 years doesn’t make any difference at all!
Keep ’em coming!
Bob
Great to see your version of hiatus isn’t total shut down, Byron! One small bone about your title tho – while Cream’s version of “Crossroads” is undeniably the best known, literally 100’s of artists have covered the Robert Johnson standard… It always galled me that so many people got rich on old blues standards while the original artists received little or no recognition or money for their work. OK, enuff of my soapboxing…