Día de los Muertos

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) has come and gone, but I worked hard on this, yet couldn't get it done on time for said day due to other engagements at the time (mostly running errands and early Christmas shopping/browsing). Better late than never, I guess.

• Wikipedia describes Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) as "a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died." It's celebrated on November 1 and 2, and often summed up as "the Mexican Halloween". There's a lot of great macabre imagery found in the celebration, and I tried to capture of those visual elements in this strip. Needless to say, much fun was had with this strip's layout.
• Now before anybody freaks out, let me put your wigged-out minds at ease: the Duck and the Husky are NOT dead. They are have NOT ceased to be; it's just for THIS strip. I drew their skulls because I couldn't think of any other way to have them in this strip while still keeping with the Day of the Dead theme. I could've had them celebrating the holiday while in Mexico for an assignment (maybe hunting down a chupacabra or something), but in my twisted head, it seemed neater to have them be a part of the celebration's decorations.
• I had to look at the "Evil Dead II"-inspired teaser image for the webcomic's launch for reference when it came to drawing Quacklad's skull again. 
• For Tyrra's skull, I actually looked up photos of a Siberian Husky's skull through Google. I actually like how hers turned out since it's the only time (so far) that she's been drawn partly realistic.
• According to the celebrations beliefs, private altars honoring the dearly departed contain their favorite foods and beverages, along with photos and memorabilia. The two items one could easily associate with Quacklad and Tyrra are his touque and her necklace.
• The Mexican Marigold is the traditional flower used for Day of the Dead. I ended up drawing stylized marigolds with major emphasis on the puffy look of the flower's petals.
• The cross was a last minute addition since I wanted something Christian/church-related to make the setup look more like it's on a decorated altar.
• I've always liked skulls and skeletons, and Día de los Muertos skeletons are my favorite stylized type of skeletons, but since the focus is on Quacklad and Tyrra's skulls, I opted to put some in little framed portraits behind them. My favorite's the one in the sombrero, along with the little sugar skull in between the Duck and Husky's noggin-bones.