Death at Dinner: Bisque to Die For
Pen and ink wash in brown of a man at a posh restaurant dinner table with a napkin tucked in his neckline. Reference image was from an Alfred Hitchcock presents still.

Id and Ego Babble

That first one with the eyes. Oh the joy it brings in its horrific magnificence. Maybe I need to punt the first attempt. Then, after I take in all the easy mistakes I made by not thinking things through, try again with more effort. The guy has no neck. And I botched the shadow which makes the chin melt into the neck... well, I obviously need practice because I overlooked many things. Yeah, practice. It's interesting how I can overlook the too-broad shoulders and other glaring mistakes I could have avoided. But I'm lazy and want to rush and get to the fun parts. And when I rush and make mistakes, then what? Get grouchy and make more mistakes to spite my art, of course! The second one is an improvement from the first. I can learn from this.

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Meta Data

Title

Don't Miss the Lobster Bisque, It's a Patron Favorite

Description

I found a reference photo from an old TV show that would be perfect for the diner who loves the lobster bisque. I'm still learning how to draw people. Obviously. There will be lots of uglies in the future. What I didn't realize, until a few weeks later when I watched the episode that the still came from, was that this Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode featured a secret restaurant of wealthy old men where the prized special entree wasn't a rare meat from the stepped of Africa. No. The meat in the special comes from one of their own ranks, selected by the matron at her discretion. Which I think is neat.

Image

600x size: Pen and ink wash in brown of a man at a posh restaurant dinner table with a napkin tucked in his neckline. Reference image was from an Alfred Hitchcock presents still.

Date

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Modified

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Previous Versions

Concept sketches of people to use in a death at dinner piece. Tried to draw ghoulish ones and a pretty waitstaff person.

Id and Ego Babble

I have an incomplete idea for a movie poster style piece with an overarching heroine and table of ghouls. I want to make something like that. And yes, it is difficult to draw bad faces well, much like it's difficult to draw faces that look good. Such is learning. I do dig accidentally stumbling on the movie poster idea after adding the table below the arm. And I give myself grief for sometimes adding too much. It's easy to belittle myself because I suck at the moment. I'll suck for a while. So it goes.

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Inspiration

Don't Miss the Lobster Bisque, It's a Patron Favorite at Chez Wee Bee

ABF Newswire: December 10, 2025

SAN FRANCSICO, CALIFORNIA, December 10, 2025 (ABF Newswire) – A billionaire MLM couple were stabbed at Chez Wee Bee this evening. The man bled out at the scene and the wife is in critical condition with deep lacerations to the face and neck. The waitstaff serving the table, Danica and Sandy, were clearing the couple's plates when they both stumbled and accidentally stabbed the couple repeatedly with dirty steak knives from the table.

After speaking with the complimentary grief counseling provided by the SFPD, Danica and Sandy seemed chipper. "That couple has, oh, I mean had, a credit line and we'll still get tipped out," Sandy responded to reporters when asked how she felt about the incident.

"Have you tried their lobster bisque?" Kevin Nelson questioned back to reporters when greeting them on his way out. "That touch of saffron is the fucking bomb."

Chez Wee Bee's owner, Robert Walker, was equally unphased by the incident. "I'll file a wealthy patron premature death claim and we'll be fine. We even have a tip rider so the waitstaff are properly compensated for any physical and emotional pain."

The wealthy couple were publicly known for their MLM empire, inherited by the husband. They were also active political insiders with an influential public relations company and a religious philanthropy, both of which they employed to lobby politicians and shape national messaging. The recent FTC ruling relaxing what disclosures an MLM needs to provide to recruits was aided by this couple's actions.

The couple's public relations firm had spent three years quietly ghost-writing op-eds published under the names of pastors, small business owners, and stay-at-home moms in regional newspapers across the country. The op-eds praised the "entrepreneurial freedom" of MLM participation. Meanwhile, their religious philanthropy funneled money to two think tanks that submitted formal comments to the FTC during the public comment period, helping drown out the testimony of former MLM recruits who had lost their savings. The FTC ruling the couple helped engineer means that new recruits can no longer easily find out how many people in a given MLM actually turn a profit. Most don't. Most lose money.

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