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INKTOBER 52 2023 Day #16: GRIMM.

Little Red Riding Monkey? While it seems like I frequently say “I struggled with this prompt”, I seriously did struggle with an idea for this prompt. Grim would have been easier, but Grimm? I had to dive into the list of fairy tales, of which there are some 210 “official” ones, looking for a spark of inspiration. Fairy tales in general should be fertile ground for a fun idea, but nothing clicked. There is the Disney connection, as well as other animation classics. I thought about the Grim Reaper, which I could have connected to the character Death in the Terri Pratchett books that I love, but that’s “Grim”, not “Grimm”. I decided to let my Brain figure it out in the background while I tried to forget about this prompt for a few days. When I finally sat down to work on it, I was still drawing blank, so I decided to have another look at the list of fairy tales. I thought about Cinderella and Snow White again, and then I saw Little Red Riding Hood. I don’t know why it didn’t trigger days earlier, but this time I remembered the classic Looney Tunes episode “Little Red Riding Rabbit” and this image came together. The wolf is loosely inspired by the wolf in that short. Even though these cartoons are definitely products of their time, there is still a timeless quality to them that transcends generations. I know my father enjoyed them in his youth (and as an adult), I enjoyed them as a youth (and still do), and my kids enjoy them, too. They were a staple of the magical Saturday morning cartoon ritual of the 1980s, and while they don’t have the same level of influence on me as a creator as some other creative properties, the Looney Tunes are definitely in my top 10. I often say PMD is a lot like my Mickey Mouse, or my Hobbes, but he’s like my Bugs Bunny, too.