Father and Son Slug Album

Look what I found in the closet yesterday!

This is a funny little pink notebook that says on the front "Snoopy and Woodstock". I thought at first it was made in Japan, because they love cute little things there, but it doesn't appear to have any Japanese writing on it. Seth used it to make a little book of father and son slug drawings. My guess is that he did it after Bob's Amazing Life, while he had father and son slugs on his mind.

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I have posted the first three pages. I'll post the rest of them tomorrow.
There are some more small, simple ink drawings in here too. All worth seeing.

It's funny to me. People try so hard to draw WELL. Seth did that; he trained himself to be able to draw whatever was necessary for his stories. But when I hear people say what they like about Seth's art, good drawing is part of it, but whimsy, light-heartedness, humor are what they remember. These drawings are clearly the work of someone who knows what he is doing: there is no scratching out, no eraser marks, no pencil underdrawing. The slug-people are consistent (something that comes with practice). But it's not gorgeous draftsmanship, it's just delight, and a kind of sweetness that does not overlook the low and squishy creatures of the world.

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Seth told me once about being in a Japanese home and seeing a man spy an insect of some sort sitting on a windowsill. The man picked up the insect, brought it close to his face, looked it over, and then set it back where it was on the windowsill. Seth was very impressed with that gesture. Some Americans would pick the creature up and put it outside; most would squash it. Probably no one but an entymologist would examine it and put it back, in that unsentimental but harmless manner.