For the past few months, I had felt very down about everything. Very tired or unmotivated... if you follow me on facebook, you may recall me talking about such things and how I struggled to better myself because I was feeling unmotivated and felt I had lost my inner voice. It became a challenge for me to sit down and draw when I felt I didn't have a voice to lay on paper. But through perseverance and many "wasted" pages of scribbles, I managed to break through my barrier, and now I find myself drawing a lot more than anytime I can recall! Since then, I've felt a lot better about myself. I realized those "wasted" pages were essential. As an artist it may be easy to forget, but you don't become the artist you want to be overnight nor without mistakes and bad drawings. As an old instructor once told me, "There are thousands upon thousands of bad drawings inside of you.. Better to get them out now." With perfection and satisfaction, you need to let out a lot of shit that gets bottled up inside of yourself. Just scribbling on paper will help loosen up your arm and better prepare it for drawing. These are all things you learn in the basics of art, yet sometimes we becomes such perfectionists we tend to forget the foundations. But, as I said, I seem to have gotten past that since I've been able to at least draw a page nearly every night. I know a lot of friends and artists are in the same boat or have experienced these things frequently. It really takes a lot of perseverance and concentration to break out of the slump, but it can be done, you just have to WANT it bad enough! Be patient with yourself and push yourself where you think you're struggling. Remember the basics and most important, have fun! I know a lot of us are doing this art thing in hopes of getting jobs and making money, but before all that we did it to have fun! We shouldn't have to sacrifice that by turning art into a "job" we don't want. If anyone would like to talk more on the subject, or want to get together and draw, please talk to me. Because I believe everyone is talented in their own ways and I want everyone to succeed in their goals.
Also, you may have noticed that I've changed the way I sign my drawings now. In a lot of art communities I go by the name ARPelayre. Might as well be recognized that way :)
Oh! and I want to help advertise a local artist I met today at the comic shop. His name is Nate Simpson and he's recently released the first issue of his comic "Nonplayer" (You can preview it here!) through Image comics. I was blown away by the art in "Nonplayer" and was excited to meet the man behind it. The meeting went very well, as Nate is a very kind and laid-back person. I enjoyed talking art with him and discussing the comic industry a bit, like how to prepare for it and such. I've often wondered if doing comics was ever a possibility in my future, but after talking with Nate, I'd say it's definitely a possibility if I work hard enough towards it. There are many important steps to prepare to go in that direction, and talking with Nate helped give insight on how to achieve that. So yeah, very awesome guy. Go pick up "Nonplayer" if you haven't already. The art is jaw-dropping-unbelievable!
