This tale was conceived as a pun and a challenge: to do a story that consisted entirely of talking heads. In addition to being the name of one of the most innovative bands of the 1980s, “talking heads” is also disparaging term for a comics scene that consists of nothing but close-ups of people in conversation. I resolved to make it work… and to add to the challenge, do it all in a 9-panel grid: one of the most notoriously “boring” page layouts. And the pun of “talking head” dictated what the story was about. 🙂 Making it even more difficult was the practical matter that it’s very difficult for characters to carry on a conversation while one of them has his mouth full.

I make no apology for the fact that I used lots of reference photos for this. Pretty much every great illustrator since the dawn of photography has used photo reference, and it’s the best way to get good facial expressions that match the story you’re trying to tell. For convenience, I took selfies… and I have to admit that trying to adapt those for drawing a 21-year-old… was a sobering experience.