This is my 100th official submission to IB. In the very first submission I drew Petroshka in a Navy uniform, so I feel drawing Jonah in a new Sailor Suit brings us full circle. Without Petroshka Jonah probably would not have come into existence. I had stopped created new stories and characters since 2006. This was to put a stop on the piliferation of new works I had created since my grade school days. Petroshka was the first new character in a long time. With the Ice broken the flood gates opened and many new series and characters were created in a short time after joining IB (mostly within the span of the first year). Jonah represents the end of that unusual creativity spurt. With BTBF a perfect storm had created my first complete story arc. In a way it is the one story I really need to tell. One day I hope to share the story in full.
This image is based on a scene planned for a future chapter (post-chapter 5). This is the first time Jonah wears a sailor suit ... something that becomes an indeliable part of his identity.
His Aunt Sophie has taken him out clothes shopping. Jonah is picking out a Sailor Suit for a planned boating trip. He likes the way he looks but you may also notice a certain sense of reservation from his usual bubbliness. This is because Jonah has recently gone through a tramatic event that completely shattered his ego. Here Jonah is picking up the pieces and forming a new identity from the ashes. You may recall from earlier chapters that Jonah developed an extreme phobia of water from nearly drowning in the tub as an infant. The Sailor Suit represents Jonah's new self that embraces and becomes one with the very thing he feared the most ... water. Jonah here is now very insecure and unsure of himself. But the sailor suit represents to him a hope, that perhaps his new found strength in conquering his fear will allow him to undo the tragedy that has befallen him. In this way his signature outfit becomes the thin thread that connects him to his past. It also represents his ability to come out stronger and have survived the tragedy instead of letting it consume him.
Jonah is the protagonist of an ongoing series known simply as BTBF (Better Than Best Friends). You can begin reading the BTBF comic here:
