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Tag: Drawing

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-23-08

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5-23-08

Day 651 of 365 More.

You know, I used to actually be good at this stuff. I really was. I was so good I even got into a pretty exclusive art school.

Of course, they ruined me.

*sigh*

I swear, I’m not fishing for compliments. This is not an attempt to make people come out of the woodwork saying "you are good." And its not an attempt to belittle anyone who thinks they don’t draw as well as me.

It’s just that I’m not happy with where my pencilling skills are right now. To be fair, I’m not the same person I was. The person I used to be drew every day for 11 years or so. The person I am today misses that and has been trying to recapture it for 3 days.

I guess I can’t expect magic over night.

I just don’t know if I can expect magic at all. The thing is, it just doesn’t work how it used to. The thing that makes me a good(i think) photographer is that I see the composition I want in my mind long before I ever actually snap the shot. I’ve always said, I’m not really a photographer. I’m an artist. I just draw with a camera now.

Drawing used to be the same way. I used to just see what I wanted in my mind and then it was a simple matter of tracing that image on the page. I still want to be able to do that, but the motor skill just aren’t there anymore.

I wonder if I’m doomed. I wonder if its just my lack of drive. I used to love drawing. If I was sitting in a class, listening to a lecture, and not paying attention, I’d look down at my notebook and find out that I had absentmindedly doodled the person sitting in front of me. That doesn’t happen anymore. Now I am pushing myself. And I’m not doing it out of love, I’m doing it out of regret. Trying to recapture I once had for the simple reason that I want to draw my own comic. There’s not even a good reason for that. I’m quite happy with the job Max is doing on Hellcats. And really, I have no real desire to take his reigns and do the daily art chores. But if we’re going to do this series of solo stories, I want to draw one of them.

Mostly just so I can say I did, I guess.

*sigh* I may never get there.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-22-08

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5-22-08

Day 650 of 365 More.

Well, I guess I’m getting a little better. Now great, but getting there.

Did some more drawing today. I’m still not comfortable to the point where I feel like I can do a whole comic, but maybe I’ll get there.

In the meantime, if you haven’t been checking out our comic, please do, and let me know what you think. Max and I update the comic ever Monday and Thursday, so a new episode went up this morning.

And if you like to draw and you want to take a shot at drawing one of the girls, by all means do so and send it to feedback@cosmichellcats.com. We have a fan art section that just doesn’t have enough stuff there yet, so I’d like to fill it out some.

Blah, it’s only 1:30am. Maybe I’ll go to sleep early for once.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-20-08

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5-20-08

Day 648 of 365 More.

"Now keep in mind that I’m an artist,
And I’m sensitive about my shit…"
-Badu

Let me let you in on a little secret. I’m not really a photographer. I never even wanted to be. I never took a single class for it.

What I wanted to be was an artist. It’s what I dreamed about when I was seven years old. It’s what I went to college for. I wanted to make comics. A childhood fantasy, sure, but its what I dreamed of.

That dream got ripped right out of my brain during school. I gave up. I became a writer, and later when I started seeing that being a writer was no more realistic than being an artist, I became a web designer.

Then I found photography. All the same rules of being an artist applied, just with different tools. And since I was doing it on my own again, there was no asshole faculty members telling me I was doing it wrong. I grew to even think I was kinda good at it. Sometimes I was even happy.

I got even happier when we started doing Hellcats. Lookie there! I was making a comic. The seven year old boy in my brain was shitting himself.

Max and I had this idea of doing a special edition of the book after we finish the second issue (which we still haven’t really started since we’ve been so busy with the comic strip). It would be four shorter solo stories, one for each of the girls. Each by a different artist. Max wants to write one of them as well as draw and it got me thinking that maybe I’d like to draw one as well as write.

God, I’m out of practice with freehand drawing. It’s been years since I’ve really given it a serious try. I totally suck now.

Now I have to decide if I want to retrain myself in the next few months (I don’t know when the hell I’d find the time) or just give up.

*sigh* There are just not enough hours in the day.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

3-10-08

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Day 577 of 365 More. This can’t be healthy. I just have too many things going on in my life. Obviously I have my job. Then you add on the pro-wrestling career, a photography career, co-hosting a photography podcast(iTunes), and being the inspiring spiritual guide to 7,967 people worldwide I barely have time to breathe,…

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

2-14-08

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Day 552 of 365 More. After yesterday’s journey into crime and the ensuing confrontation, Steph and I made up. Well, actually she just couldn’t resist my raw animal magnetism. Score one for the bad guys. Anyway, we went out for Valentines day after work and ate WAY too much sushi. After that we went home…

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-11-07

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Day 304 of 365 days. So today, Steph and I drove up to Pymatuning Valley Resort to get a tour, hear a sales pitch and attempt to win $25,000. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. The resort is nice enough, I suppose, but really not great, and not the kind of place I’d spend…

Imported From Flickr

Damsel photosketch

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Damsel photosketch

The other day, I did a photoshoot with the lovely and talented Liz. It was the first time I shot her, but she did a great job and I can’t wait to do it again.

I’ve decided to start posting the photos as I finish them instead of waiting for the entire set to be done.

Outfit 4/4

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

1-23-07

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Day 165 of 365 days. For Christmas, I got Steph an easel and a bunch of art products because she wanted to be more creative. She’s even been doing her own 365 Day project as of a couple days ago (using the camera I bought her for our anniversary). But one of the things she…

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

12-7-06

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Day 118 of 365 days. (Stephen and Jack, this is another one you might enjoy) One might be able to gather from several other pictures in this project that I am a comic book fan. Even if I weren’t a comic book fan, I would hope that I would still have had the foresight in…

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

9-28-06

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Day 48 of 365 days. Won my nightly poker game in record time and then I was just sitting up watching TV (I don’t sleep much) and when midnight hit, I decided to get a jump on todays self portrait. I was especially eager since what I had planned seemed like it was going to…

Imported From Flickr

batgirl-line

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batgirl-line

an in progress version of this picture. I decided to digitally ink and recolor it in illustrator. My first attempt at doing that. Previously I had always inked everything on paper before scanning it to color. Did quite a bit of redrawing once it was on the computer. You’ll note she’s more cartoony and manga-ish. Her arm is shorter. Her legs less defined. Her hair is completely different.

finished version: www.flickr.com/photos/chrismaverick/239571377/