Why yes, that is a tardigrade, aka water bear, aka moss piglet.

Process

I drew this back in the bad ol’ days of Vermont. Freezing winters and tick-filled summers. All I could do was stay inside and think about tardigrades

My process was often fearful, so I suppose this is an appropriate title. But ooh, look at those Ames lettering-guide lines. Succulent.

How was this fearful? This is back when I inked on a light board. I didn’t like drawing on a computer because I didn’t have any good tools for it. And I didn’t like drawing over my pencils because it was just an exercise in frustration when I went to erase and inevitably smeared the ink.

But ooo-ee, when I was done with that first round of inks and could turn off the light table, I went nuts! Hatch, hatch, hatch, hatch, hatch, hatch, hatch, hatch. With a tiny Speedball (previously Hunt) 102 nib and some Platinum Carbon ink. Boy did I spill a lot of ink.

I skipped the fearful part of putting watercolor over my inks, though, because that carbon ink dried so quickly and well.

In the end, I think this is one of my favorite comics I have colored. I should find it and see what paper I drew it on.