Department of Corrections.

The above is a re-drawn figure from the previous post. It was driving me crazy so I re did it on another piece of paper. The lesson here is that you don't go to ink until your structure and proportions are where they should be. In my zeal to produce new work I sometimes get ahead of myself.

High School Hero.

The character depicted above was created in High School. His name is SkyStriker and he was part of a team of superheroes. Like most teenage comic fans who aspired to become comic book creators my best friend and I created our own comics on copy paper we "acquired" from our school. I've no idea what became of those copy paper comics but I remember them fondly. We gave it our best and we didn't let a lack of skill or guidance hinder us. I still recall going to the Seuling Cons in NYC and showing our comics to the established pros there. Considering how crude our product was the pros were very nice to my buddy and I. Perhaps we reminded them of their youth. My friend Dave moved on to electronics after High School and my life took it's own twists and turns but here I am still creating comics and hoping for a better tomorrow. Dave is still one of my dearest friends and has been incredibly supportive all these years. If I ever get to be on the other side of the table he'll be right there with me. Just like the old days...

Championship Werewolf

The torture rack.

I hadn't intended to finish this drawing but I was somewhat pleased with the pencils and decided to ink the figures and add some background. This was done on copy paper so I couldn't do too much erasing for fear of tearing the paper.

LobsterMan and Octopus.

Earlier this summer my girlfriend and I spent three days in Maine. One of the places we visited was a lighthouse in Portland. While browsing the lighthouse gift shop I was intrigued by a lobster fridge magnet. I immediately thought to myself "I can do something with this". And the above drawing is the result.

Fear of...

Hello everyone. The first drawing was done in high school and it was recently unearthed by a classmate. The second piece was done because I've always thought that high contrast imagery is attractive. The third and fourth image was done off the cuff, so to speak, not intended for use in a story. But it does make me wonder: why are drawings not intended for publication so much more energetic than the ones I want you to see? I can only conclude that it's fear of failure, fear of being thought a fraud and constantly bumping into my limitations as an artist that conspires to drain the life out of the finished works. Take it from me friends : it's all too easy to live a fear based life. It's too easy to play it safe and keep yourself in a potential state rather than put your work out there to be seen and judged. It's too easy to become intimidated by the volume of great work of past and present. I've met many amateur artists who were much better than I was then or am now. But they were crippled by the fears I described above. With only one exception did any of them become a pro. Fear is easy but in the end it leaves us with nothing but itself.