When Goin' Gets Tough....

... it means it's time to hit the drawing table.  Somehow, it never fails that my safety valve, my way of blowing off steam, always, always involves a pencil, paper, and time away. 

For some reason, November always seems to be that time of year when take a moment to pause and think about the goings-on of the the period, and assess for myself, just what is really important.

In this most recent period of reflection, I've come to the following conclusions, and none of this is anything new, so forgive me if any of this seems obvious or sounds like I'm hitting "repeat".  What's different now is the clarity in which I'm making these observations.

1) Life is too short, and it's going by too quickly for me to be tabling things that are important to me.

2) I need to draw more.

3) I need to read and write more.

A year ago in November, I apparently hit this same point, or at least, I hit the drawing table after what must have been a challenging few weeks (the "new" job seems to demand a lot a this time of year).  I took a few photos of my "process" without giving too much away.  I put them up on Facebook at the time, so I'm going to collect them here because I think they're worth posting again, especially given the subject of this post.

Some ideas will start as "notebook art".

Some ideas wait until I'm at the table.  Concept art for "Battle Robo III".

Scanned lineart, waiting to be digitally colored.  From "Orionic Wars"

Coloring in progress...  from "Orionic Wars"

Some of my favorite background art is drawn directly on the computer.

It's been a long road back to relative health following that bad shoulder/neck strain that kept me away from the table.  You could say it was a bit like cutting off my left hand.  Believe me, I found enough to do with my time to make up the difference.  But given the recent changes going on in my life (which I won't elaborate on here), it is time (actually past time) to shuffle the deck.  Some decisions have not been easy to make.  In time, though, I think the outcome will be for the better, and the results I hope to share here, I hope will be amazing.

Stay tuned....