Sketchbook Chronicles #1: My Dojo?

3/22/18

That title has a pretty epic ring to it. That's pretty cool. I don't exactly know how the format of this segment is going to work nor how consistent I will do it but I'll figure it out. Usually, I get so  excited about an idea for a total of 3 days then I actually do it once then get burnt out and never do it again. I'm telling you this in hopes that self awareness will keep me on the right track (that track being not-flakiness). 

I received some rather overwhelming news last week and found it hard to take notes in my 3 hour class the next day so I decided to start doodling being that I was taking notes in my sketchbook (one of the the perks of being an art major I guess). I remembered a little exercise that I found on Youtube when I first started taking art and cartooning seriously approximately 2 years ago. You close your eyes and make a bunch of scribbles on your paper then start looking for little shapes that you can start sketching into characters. I guess I got carried away. Still in kind of a fog, I treated myself to Chick Fil A after class and got carried away with that too (I got seconds) but while I was in there, I kept drawing and eventually tuned out all of the commotion that goes on within a fast food chain. I seem to create more things that I am satisfied with when I'm within the walls of a place that serves greasy bullshit. Could this be my dojo? That's a blog post for another day.

It's been a little difficult adjusting to my current schedule. Since I graduated high school, my life has been waking up at the crack of dawn and going to work until 3:30 then coming home wishing I could nap but knowing that a nap will make me nauseous and too energized at bed time. Basically, I would just come home grumpy. Now I work significantly less hours and actually have time to do things that make me feel fulfilled during the day. The difficult part is getting used to the idea that educating yourself is just as productive as busting your ass at a dead end job. I have to say in the 5-6 weeks that I've been in this drawing class, my ability to get ideas out of my head has developed significantly. My teacher tells me that I can definitely draw which is super empowering but he says I'm at the point where I need to learn how to "see". 

Interesting stuff... If he only knew that I would utilize "seeing" to draw really ugly potty people. 

        This is cool. I think I'm going to do this once a week.