It’s November 1981 and the sawmill is shutting down for the winter. Out of work, I clear off my drawing desk and start a new Louie and Bruce strip. My evenings are spent bowling, and the weekends have me at the gym and shooting hoops and playing basketball with my friends. All this gives me ideas for future strips.
When I sketch my characters, I always draw their eyes, even if their hair covers them later, like you can see in the following sketches of Bruce.
The first sketch shows a 3-panel idea of Bruce bowling. But Oh No, someone put glue in the bowling ball’s finger holes! Who would do such a thing?
It’s interesting to note that I deliberately gave Bruce five fingers on each hand. Many times, my characters had four fingers. And sometimes, they had four in one panel and five in another panel of the same comic strip.
In the following sketch, Bruce is at the foul line during a basketball game. Anyone who has ever been there knows that it’s easy to psych yourself out of making a basket. You must relax and stay confident.
Neither of these sketches became published strips. Instead, I decided to turn Frank into a werewolf. I had some throwaway strip ideas that I worked with to make the final strip. Below are the ideas, followed by the published strip.
Thanks for joining me for another look back into the past, at the making of another Louie and Bruce comic strip.
Until my next post, peace and love to all.
Steve, 2/15/2025
This post “Recalling Louie and Bruce, Part 4” copyright © 2025 Steven Leo Campbell at stevecampbellcreations.com – All rights reserved.
Steve Campbell Creations 
Fascinating to hear the story behind the strips. Thanks for sharing.
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It has been fun reminiscing about “the good ol’ days” and recalling the work I did to entertain my friends and coworkers and the people who read the town newspaper where I lived. More is on the way in the days and weeks ahead. Thanks for reading!
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