100!

This marks my 100th post on this blog. When I first started it last May, it was supposed to be a creative outlet for me. An excuse to draw. I have a good job but the hours are horrible and whatever creativity goes into our product is somebody else’s, not mine. Also, working in advertising doesn’t allow much time for any serious outside pursuits so I’ve never been able to spend much time working on the comic book stuff I’ve always wanted to do. But I’m a compulsive doodler and this was going to be my incentive to do more than draw Tippy the turtle on the corner of an envelope. It was working great. I actually felt like I was improving for the first time since high school. I even got into a little posting competition with my buddy Leaf, trying to outdo him by posting more than him. It was a lot of fun, even though few people but me, Leaf and Mike ever commented.

Sadly, I could never have predicted how soon it would become an emotional outlet and a way to stay connected with Mike’s friends and the folks who posted on his site after his passing. Though it isn’t what I planned, I’m very grateful to be able to have such an outlet and I’m grateful for the support of all the folks who’ve commented and given me their shoulder to cry on. Now that I’ve reached this milestone, I’m going to try to be a bit more chipper. I can’t promise to post drawings more frequently. In fact, I suspect my output may dwindle. My free time seems to become less and less and my work on the children’s horror story I was writing has suffered badly. I really want to put the entire thing down on paper. I read a great quote today and it feels especially relevant to me. “Work at your passions as if your days are numbered. Because they are.”

I still have the Perhapanauts pinup to finish (almost there) and I promised Todd I’d work on the Tomorrow Kids project with him for fun. Maybe if he’s willing, I can post some of that here as I finish it. So I have a lot to fill my evenings. (When I’m not stuck here at work as I am this lonely Friday night.)

I thought I’d celebrate my 100th post with my old buddies Heat-Ray, Domolisher and Skull. They even had Suzanne bake me a cake, which it appears Tombstone has already helped himself to. I was planning on doing it up proper, inking and coloring it. (What you see above was just the underdrawing.) But work has been brutal and I was afraid it would be weeks before I finished it and I wouldn’t be able to post until it was done. So I bit the bullet and posted this. Unfortunately, this wasn’t meant to be seen in this state and, for the underdrawing, I used the paper in a crappy sketchbook they give us at the agency to draw in. It’s the worst, grainiest paper I’ve ever used. I guess they don’t want us using the expensive copier paper that I usually help myself to. I also used a number 2 pencil on it and it smudged badly. The scanner really didn’t like what I was giving it and I had to work some Photoshop magic just to be able to use the scan. I also didn’t get a chance to fix the crappy anatomy on Big D’s arms. But I still got a chuckle out of this drawing, despite the flaws and was anxious to post it before I have to get back to work. So, here it is, warts and all. I hope you enjoy it. I had fun drawing it and just wish I’d had time to give it some real love.

Oh, and thanks for sticking with me this far.