Next, the bartender needed designed. Usually, it doesn't take many drawings for me to decide on a character - they form in my head as time goes on and I write them more, maybe altered by whatever story or surroundings or traits I've given them, but only a few drawings get done of varying versions of the same person and I choose a favourite. Normally, I draw one - if it fits, that's their design. If it doesn't, I'll do more (though that's not to say the initial incarnation isn't thought through and considered). 'Jim Mullan' is one of those ones that pretty much popped into my head fully realised - the subsequent drawings this time came in figuring out what he'd be like as a younger man, as this version of the strip is set in the 80s and the original idea is current. Peter Mullan was my inspiration for Jim, so I decided to look for other typical hardy Scots - James Cosmo seemed a good one, he has a similar vibe, so Jim was named after them. The kind of nice, charming bloke you do not want to piss off. They seem the kind of guys you'd find behind the bar in an old Edinburgh pub.

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