One Year Plus

It has been just over a year since my first post here and I'm happy to report that the work continues. Great progress has been made, the blueprint has solidified, and I'm ready for stage two to begin. The most important thing that has happened in regards to this project over the past year is the return of my confidence as it relates to my marker rendering.

I have been creating thumbnail sketches consistently for the last 12 years, but it has been 6 years since I've created a more refined marker sketch, or committed more than 10 minutes to a sketch. For myself as an artist, the fear of loosing your artistic talent is very real. I couldn't tell you how many times I've sat down to render a vehicle or a robot and stopped 10 minutes into it because I wanted every line to be perfect. Each time I walked away from an incomplete sketch my confidence took a hit.

During a week off from my day job, I set a goal for myself to complete a piece, regardless of the result. I needed a moral victory, I needed a breakthrough. I started by focusing on getting one small area of a sketch right, and if that went well or not, I would keep going. As I worked my way through the sketch, piece by piece, I found myself remembering, rediscovering old tricks. Even though I wasn't completely happy, I could see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and that with a bit more practice over time, large gains could be made.

I will post the sketch that started the ball rolling in the days to come.