Wonders and Blunders

______Drawing.  Illustrating.  Art.

______What I have yearned to do my entire life, what I knew I wanted to pursue since I could put a crayon to paper, and yet almost all the time, my mind is plagued with one thought about it: was it meant to be?  I still can't classify myself as an artist; I feel that's too kind of a term for my skill set.  Am I even creative enough to be an artist?  Should art just be a side thing, a "fun thing" that people know me by?

______Will I ever be able to reach that checkpoint of artsy awesomeness?

______Sigh.

______It's my fault, I know.  I should draw more.  I should try new things.  I should get better!  I see all these rad artists around me, ages and occupations varying like the nuances of pink in the sky as it sets, and their skills both frighten and propel me: some are middle school art prodigies who paint swirling landscapes in a few brushstrokes, some are straight out of college and have already secured rad art jobs, and others are artists who are known in their area and teach in the comfort of a university with a close-knit art department.  I just wish I could share a level of their talent and artsy knowledge.




______There's doubt lurking in my mind that I wasn't cut out for art.  And it comes and goes every now and then, like ominous storm clouds, and somehow hasn't sucked me down into the core of the earth yet.  I'm all right, I'll give myself that.  But I'm definitely nothing spectacular.  Sure, to people who aren't an art major, or not the most creative, even a doodle of a turd with a little fly rising from it will cause them to gasp in awe.  But to me, even what I'd call my loveliest works don't seem to be satisfactory enough.



______With that in mind, I've been intimidated (in a totally good way) into illustrating a little story that I'm nearly done editing.  These drawings began as a whisper of scribbly lines on my biology notes and were quick to develop into something more defined in my sketchbook.  With my story plastered in my brain, I got to it and finally sketched out and inked these bad boys.  The lines are already being filled with color as you read this!  The characters and locations are mine, and I was pleased to note that as drawings, they match the writing and what was in my head.

______So here's the result of the past two or so weeks of my brain sobbing over how "meh okay decent" of an... artist... I am.  I must improve and I must try new things and I will!  That's what I'm going to work at the remainder of the summer and with my art classes next semester.  And uh, being more positive and junk.  YERG.

______Viking screeeeeech!



______And a color update: Pretty happy with the first three, but the last one gave me fits; though I do understand that it should be much less bright and much more murky in lieu of the story!

The Bottom of the Well WIP storyboard panels, ink + copic markers, Summer 2013