Storytelling is always a challenge to get right. Put too much info into the piece and you’ve put the meaning on with a frontloader. Always better to let your audience put some of the pieces together and fill in some of it with their imagination.

When I was planning this image, it made me giggle thinking that the Martian natives might be too tall to show in the image (or is Associate Jane very short?). Either way, I was amused by the idea of using the reflective surface of the helmet to give the viewer some idea of the natives’ heads. Sporting antennae, because of course. And it seems the natives don’t have a very good understanding of personal space.

Much of my art is *very serious work* but occasionally, I imagine a situation that’s hilarious and have to go with it. What’s fun is situating the average person in a very average job (like a census-taker) and having to deal with unusual and or idiosyncratic characters and behavior. Put them in a semi-familar environment and let the shenanigans begin.

What’s your take on the image? Does it make you giggle too?