The sh**ty artist.

A bunch of days back, in my unending quest to rid myself of as much clutter as I can to live a life that is free from the burden of items I don’t need, I came across a sketch book from, must be from about, 26 years ago. I thumbed through it just to see what was in it. Threw out most of it but saved and scanned the ten items in this post.

26 years is a long time, I can hardly believe so much time has passed. Looking at these drawings though, reminded me of what was going on in my life at the time, the things that were important to me and the people around me.


I went to college and studied Illustration. That is to say, in my abortive college career I went to a lot of classes that involved me drawing. I like drawing. Drawing was something I always had fun with and even today as I read the paper or when I’m at work, I’ll be sketching something in the margins.

I always considered myself to have some ability, better than most but certainly not as good as others. I’ve seen people who have devoted their lifetimes to art and am both amazed and envious of their abilities at times. If you look through the sidebar, you’ll see Vinnie’s blog, Vinnie really has f%#$ing chops, he draws in a bunch of different mediums and styles. Gerry Acerno whose stuff I put up from time to time can really draw too, his work harkens back to a golden age of comics. I respect and admire them because they have given themselves over to that lifelong avocation.

Whenever an artist is asked about the process, it’s a difficult to describe to someone who doesn’t create art but, talk to a fellow artist and they will all agree about how, in many instances, what is put down on paper is the realization of the image an artist sees in his mind first. It’s very hard work.

I was never entirely happy with the results I got. I got better over time but, I still didn’t approach the kind of results or expectations I had for myself. The good thing is I long ago reconciled with that, I don’t suffer sleepless nights over it so when I got the following comment some time back: you'll ALWAYS be a SHITTY ARTIST.... now you're just a MIDDLE of the road production artist who CAN"T draw... I laughed.

See, I embraced that a long. long time ago. I can live with the ability I have, get my enjoyment from the things I do. At least unlike my anonymous commenter, I’m not a hack.