Thomas and His Bucket Full of Something was the product of the artist showing their father a concept painting of a little fish boy with lips. What was supposed to be a one-off character resulted in an inspired e-mail three days later with an entire story written about a little boy who needed help fixing his bike.
Fast forward five years, and the comic took form as a final project for a comic-making class taken in 2019, with one major change: The main character being modeled after one of the newest family members. :)