Artistically speaking, this is kind of a big time for me right now–not because I got a big break–not because my art career is taking off (I’m not even sure if that is a goal). It’s a big time because it was around this time last year that my friend Jeremy Dale passed away unexpectedly at the age of 34. Jeremy was a comic book guy. Not only did he live and breathe the comic book world, but he also had built himself a nice career there. When he passed away, it made me want to do art. I wanted to honor him in some way…carry on his legacy a bit. My goal in trying to get better isn’t really to “make it” like Jeremy had. My goal is to carry on the legacy…to just draw.
So, last year I started drawing, and over the past year I’ve filled up three notebooks. And more recently I participated in the annual Inktober–a tradition started a few years ago where folks are challenged to do an ink sketch every day in the month of October. Not only did I find some amazing artists sharing their work like Karl Kopinski and Artur Sadlos, but it also got me into ink–pushing my brush pen, dip pen, and traditional brush inking in ways I probably wouldn’t have on my own. Even though a lot of my work ended up being quick sketches inspired by the work of others, I was able to fit in a couple original pieces that I’m proud of:
As well as a couple pieces I liked that were inspired by movie stills:
Well, I’ve got three more notebooks sitting around that need to be filled, so I guess I better get back to it:)