A lot of people don't realize how much research goes into each and every Land of Le Beef cartoon that I create, so I thought I would share a little bit of 'behind the scenes'.
For example, this cartoon features a flamenco dancer and a flamingo. In planning for this one, I took flamenco dancing lessons for 3 months, learning the moves and the subtleties behind it. My instructor, Alejandro, was very instrumental in this part of the panel. As further research, I also went undercover and joined a large flamingo colony for a substantial period of time (see below).
image courtesy of Wikipedia
As you can imagine, it was a very unusual yet enriching period of my life. For hours at a time I would stand on one leg while pecking at the sweet sweet algae and aquatic plants beneath the water's surface with my giant beak. I even married a female member of the colony, and we had a few eggs together. It was a quiet, meditative life. Over time I thought that perhaps I would leave the human world for good and live out the rest of my days with my new bird family, until one fateful day when it was time to migrate. Slowly, one by one, they all started flying away. My flamingo wife, my flamingo kids, even my flamingo tax accountant; gone. Eventually I was left standing alone on one leg, watching my whole flamingo world disappear in a cloud a pink. I wept a single tear.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a lot goes into these cartoons.