My Tomie dePaola Award Contest Entry

So! I just submitted my piece for the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award contest. The Prompt this year instructed us to create a character for a comic strip of 4-6 panels. I knew the character I would use, but was stumped for so long (SO. LONG.) on what kind of shennanigans he'd be getting into. Finally, one of my ideas worked itself out (phew!) and I got to work very quickly because at that point the deadline was fast-approaching. It started with these drawings:

Oh, this poor, tortured cat.

At this point, I was very excited, but stuck for a while, because I did not know how this little story would progress, and, furthermore, end.

I decided to have this cat try to run away (understandably, might I add), but then have a change of heart. I also finally worked out the end scene, which was a lot of fun to draw.

(Awwwwww...)

After working out the drawings, I scanned them and made them work within the specs of the Prompt.

For the most part, I kept to this for the final, but made a few changes:

Yay! It's done!

Here are some close-ups: