Elf and Motorbelly

Elf and Motorbelly is a webcomic that was written and drawn by Frank Grigonis, an English teacher with no artistic training. He was moved to start the comic after seeing the many stray and abandoned cats in his mobile-home park. He does what he can to make their lives easier, but his dream is to one day make enough money to be a much greater benefactor to abandoned and suffering animals.

The comic ran from August 9, 2008 to October 4, 2009. On February 6, 2014, Frank announced that he is going to resume work on the strip.

Characters
Elf and Motorbelly are two designer cats rescued from an animal-testing lab and adopted by Frank. Together they all live in a trailer home where Frank hides them from the outside world and encourages them to develop their potentials.

While both cats can walk upright, speak, and reason due to genetic manipulation, Elf is the brainier but not always the smarter of the two. Elf was named after the intelligent and creative elves of European folklore. Motorbelly was named after his incredibly loud purr and his ability to digest lots of food.

Artistically, the characters were inspired by the minimalistic but commercially successful Hello Kitty character. Although Elf and Motorbelly are drawn in a minimalistic style, they are long-haired cats who are said to resemble Christmas trees.

Other characters include Lola Kitty, Motorbelly's unrequited love-interest; Sammy the Angry Clam, who narrowly escaped from a clambake; and Larry, their adopted stray from the trailer park.