The first semi-coherent iteration of this story began in 2022. I've selected several older pieces to showcase the design changes over the years.

The images above are some character lineups that I created fairly recently for character reference. They are arranged in chronological order.

The pieces above were created during May-October of 2022. I was still figuring out the general look of the characters. MICHAEL initially was supposed to wear one of M. Leigh's old wigs; Maria and Ben were originally going to be twins; Shelly was initially blonde, etc, etc. The Armstrongs were the hardest to pin down design wise.

The pieces above were created during February-April of 2023. I was getting pretty antsy about wanting to start the comic by this point. I ended up recycling a lot of discarded designs for characters like Lillian and Gloria. Lillian's design was initially intended for T.E.'s ex-wife. Gloria's design was taken from an entirely different earlier story. I held onto the idea of MICHAEL wearing a wig for a long time before eventually settling on the severe combover.