Cooking Mama Luigi
December 2004
BiC #2 0.7mm mechanical pencil, Vis-a-Vis Wet Erase pen, Microsoft Paint

Ahh, one from the archives. I’ve always been VERY fond of this picture. The detail that went into it still impresses me to this day. I set out to draw Luigi in the context of where he might be happy, instead of his usual cowardly, second-banana position. When I built an Italian kitchen around him, complete with copper stove and wicker-seated chairs, the picture really came together.

The title of the picture is a recently contrived thing. “Cooking Mama” didn’t exist in December of 2004 (I think?), but then again this picture didn’t have a title apart from “Luigi 1”. I think I had considered calling it “Tayce T.’s New Apprentice” at once point, but I think we can all agree that the new title is better.