TRYING TO FIND IT

So over the last month or so I've really been struggling creatively. Every time I sit down at my drawing table it's like I just forgot how to draw. I know artists block is something every artist goes through, but in this case it's lasted long enough that it's really starting to bother me. A while back I did some work for a 3 page backup story in an independent comic. I was really happy with how it came out and felt I was really on to something. And then for some reason the wheels just fell off.

I'm most definitely a perfectionist when it comes to my own art. If it doesn't come out exactly the way I pictured it in my head I get frustrated and I'll never be happy with it. That's happening every time I draw lately. I'm trying to do some design work for a comics project that's going to eventually made public. It's a lot of stuff to design, but the project is something I'm really excited about. I'm working with an awesome writer and we have a really unique concept that I think people will really dig. But in the midst of doing the design work nothing has been coming out right and it's all ended up in the trash. So decided to take a break from designing and work on a couple pieces featuring my character, THE KING.

They turned out great, in my opinion anyway. I thought I had made a breakthrough and was really ready to take this comics project head on. And then I sat down to work on some designs and it's just not working. My pencils are erratic. My inking looks amateurish. My composition and anatomy and layouts are all over the place.

At this point I've decided that I've been putting too much pressure on myself. I honestly want this project to be the best thing anyone's ever seen, but I realized that I have to enjoy it just as much as anyone else does. So I've decided that I'm going to try some new things stylistically. I AM going to find something that works, and I AM going to make it something that I enjoy doing. Instead of trying to emulate something I'm really going to make a stronger effort to define myself as an artist. I think this project is something that could turn some heads for myself and my collaborator, and I want to make it fun and unique and interesting and amazeballs and awesome sauce and whatever term you want to use to describe it.

So I'm going to make some changes. I'm going to play with my style. I'm going to make it fun again and not dread sitting at the table to draw. Things will definitely look a little different, but I can guarantee you that it will be fun and unique and interesting.

Also, my wife Liz and I are having another baby in less than a month. I couldn't be more excited about it and obviously family comes above everything, so this project may be coming a little later than we originally planned but you can bet your ass that it IS coming and it will, to quote my awesome partner B Alan Hubbard, "melt faces AND cashew butter". I promise we will live up to that !

Thanks for bearing with me during my little venting here. And what would an art blog post be without some art, eh ? EH ?! So here's the 2 THE KING pieces I did a couple weeks ago. I may eventually do some prints of these, but we'll see what happens.

Thanks for reading !
RJW