Tuft Luck the Unlucky Black Cat is an independent graphic novel series, following the titular character, Tuft; and his sardonic commentary of a fantastical, but dangerously chaotic cartoon town. The comic is inspired by supernatural horror and black comedy, introducing loads of weird and wonderful and...in some cases horrible characters, each with their own secrets, conflicts and mysteries that often play on classic horror tropes.
Each page is drawn in pencil, inked by hand and then scanned, digitally polished and printed, with some pages also being coloured in pencil. Created in 2024 - 2025, "The House of the Disturbed" is the first book in the series, originally released as weekly blog posts, and via messages on Whatsapp Channels. The official version contains 68 pages.
Tuft Luck is a sister project to The Parade of Screw Ups, an animated comedy web-series about three rambunctious clowns. Originally when creating Screw Ups, I was trying to pour as many ideas as possible into the one project, wanting it to be a playground for all the different funny and interesting ideas I'd had for cartoons. However, I almost immediately found that two separate projects were forming that, while linked, had their own identities independent of one other. That was the moment I opted to make a graphic novel alongside the web series, a medium that had been on my bucket list to tackle for a long time.
Tuft's misadventures take place in the secret parts of town that the clowns, and most others, don't know about. It is (admittedly) more violent, (somehow) more strange, but (hopefully) more intriguing as well.
My aim for this series is to take readers on a journey, one that's as puzzling as it is freaky as it is exciting. And to tell a story that no one else would tell. Or if someone else did tell it...it would be wack. Originally humour wasn't the priority, but because I'm physically incapable of taking anything seriously, it's also bursting at the seems with jokes, containing multiple silly, dry and/or edgy gags on each page and larger punchlines that weave into the narrative in unexpected ways.
All books in the Tuft Luck series are (or will be) available to buy at calvinoneill.com/shop
I hope you'll come along for the ride, but if it's too morbidly off-beat for you, I won't take it personally.