There was a meme going around twitter a few weeks ago, hashtag anyone can improve at drawing. People were posting old art in comparison to their most recent work, showing how anyone can improve at drawing if you put in lots of hours to develop your skills. I happily participated, because I love drawing improvement memes, they are so fun! However, I think posting an ancient 10+ year old drawing beside a shiny new one can be kind of …. I don’t know, a little misleading? Like all us artists went away to our cabin in the woods, drew like heck for 10 years and then emerged as fully formed professional artists. The meme didn’t show off the years of development and struggle, the awkward teenage years of learning to become a pro cartoonist.
Anyway, since I’m always up for spewing my awful, embarrassing old artwork on the internet (ugh, why am I like this), I wanted to do just that: the 10 pages above are about 13 years of skill development. I don’t believe art skill develops in a straight line. Like, you don’t start out at 0 and work your way directly to 100. Some years I felt like my skills were going backwards, and other years I feel like they shot forward, and I wasn’t sure why. Check the dates on the images above. There is one year’s difference between the page from Brain Camp and the page from Friends with Boys, but the artwork from Friends with Boys is so much better. Why? Because I discovered new art tools that totally changed my approach to drawing. So some years you get lucky like that. But most years you don’t, and it’s just about challenging yourself in tiny increments, trying desperately to learn.
Be in art for the long haul! This is 13 years of work. I improved very, very slowly. Some people are pro-quality cartoonists by the time they’re 23, but I wasn’t that person. I just kept going, inching forward. Anyone can improve at drawing, but some of us improve slower than others. So don’t get discouraged, just keep going. :)
(Colours on The Last of Us by Rachelle Rosenberg, colours on The Nameless City by Jordie Bellaire.)
Anonymous: I always wish for bigger representation of LGBT couples in the media. However, when I see a lesbian couple in a medium primarily aimed at male or a male audience asking fo a lesbian couple, I feel a certain distrust. I think this is because I have known many men who are interested in lesbian couples, but they showed disgust when there was talk of a couple of men. Do not misunderstand me, it's great that more representation of lesbian couples, but I can not help feeling distrust.
I think there are plenty of examples of both. Some of the early Gen13 stuff with Rainmaker was pretty goofy and sometimes gross, but then you have Batwoman. There’s both.
But absolutely, a lot of writers are FAR more comfortable adding lesbian characters or bi- female characters than they will ever be adding gay guys. And it’s probably for the exact reasons you suspect.
I am always happy when we take steps forward, but I want to be sure they actually ARE steps forward and not just a new kind of pandering.
This is usually my first thought whenever a lesbian couple is introduced in a mainstream comic and even some indie comics. It feels like lesbians greatly outnumber gay men in comics.
Who’s Your Daddy is a highly amusing asymmetric multiplayer parenthood simulator that follows the daily routine of a loving, if bumbling, father as he tries to keep his son safe from harm.
One player controls the baby and attempts to put itself in harms way, and the other player takes on the role of the father, trying to save his son from certain death. A darkly humorous and very silly multiplayer parenting experience.
Anonymous: Hi genice! I hope it isn't strange to ask, how old are you? Your art is so great and sometimes I feel like my art isn't good enough compared to the people who are the same age as me, do you ever get this feeling?
i’ve been handling those kinds of feelings much better these days i think, but there are definitely a lot of times where i feel really intimidated by how good everyone else is haha (not necessarily people around my age, but in general)
rather than becoming discouraged though, i try to redirect those insecurities towards improving and keeping up with the people around me! it’s much easier said than done, but i think it really helps to remember that everyone is their own person with their own artistic journey and circumstances. even if someone is the same age as you, they may have been doing art longer, or have access to classes and other helpful resources that you may not have had. there’s a lot of factors that go into a person’s artistic skill (beyond their age, and sometimes even the amount of time and effort they’ve spent drawing) so it’s usually not very fair or accurate to compare yourself like that imo.
comparing yourself is definitely a very normal thing, and i think everyone does it in some way, at some point. whether it has a positive or negative effect depends on the person and the way they compare themselves i think. i know a lot of people that try to avoid comparing themselves because of the negative feelings that tend to come with comparing (eg. jealousy, discouragement). i find that for me though, as long as i can stay conscious of the fact that i’m on my own artistic journey, comparing myself with others helps motivate me to try harder and set higher goals for myself.
THIS. Times like… a thousand million.
I started to focus more on it a little later but I’m working on my pace :D
This also ties into the recent ask I got about age and getting into the industry. There is no age rule, and it’s about your skills so focus on making yourself rad :D
im serious about that “stop saving things for special occasions” bit tho like. even if u aren’t in your 20s. thats for everyone. its one of the most useful things ive learned lately
stop! just stop. eat the special snack. drink the expensive hippie tea. use the incense or the bath bomb or whatever you paid way too much for because you were feeling really bad and retail therapy makes u feel alive
when we save things for special occasions/rainy days it contributes to us feeling like A.) our day to day existence is lackluster and B.) you have to be feeling a certain level of Bad, or have to reach a certain level of Socially Accepted Achievement, to enjoy things
just give yourself stuff. there are definitely sometimes reasons to withhold things from yourself - as motivation, if it’s something you consciously want to use sparingly, etc - but at least for me half the time it just turns into self-flagellation and also cool things and cool experiences and nice treats just collect dust while i wait for some fabled day when i convince myself i finally Deserve it
just fuckin give yourself stuff dude. life’s so mindblowingly short
my grandmother died having only used her china like twice in her life. during the year or so before her death, she was starting to package up and give things of hers to her kids, and gave mom the china while sighing “oh i wish i had used the china more!” and mom tried so hard to convince her to just keep it, then, and eat corny dogs off it if she wanted. she insisted she couldn’t possibly, you need a special reason to use the fine china.
when nana died, we used her fine china as our everyday dishes for years. i was 18 when she died, and never really stopped having that in the back of my head.
now, when i hear myself say “i wish i had a reason to wear/do/eat/use X!” i hear nana regretting never really using her china. and let me tell you a thing:
spaghettios taste great when eaten from fine china.
People say, ‘Oh, everything’s been done – nothing is new.’ I say… Turn off the internet. Combine all the things that you love in the world. Take some time, and you might come up with something special that’s lasting.
Last year, 22-time Emmy award-winning reporter John Stofflet posted this news video he created for KING-TV in 2004, featuring Paul Smith and his artistic talents.
Hi, I'm Tim Lai! I'm a cartoonist living in Ontario, Canada. I like drawing cute and colourful things. This blog is a hub where you can find all of my Tumblr, DeviantArt, Flickr, Blogspot, and other posts in one place.
About My Work
I write and draw Lemon Inc., a comic about a seven-year-old who wants to be a business tycoon when he grows up. Until then, he runs a lemonade stand. You can read it at www.lemon-inc.com.
I have done some professional web and graphic design work, including designing the website for the webcomic, Just Joel. I'm also a member of the webcomic collective, Ink Bomb Comics.
December 8, 2015 23:42
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