Broken Pencil

   Not always do your works come out and everyone love it. To be honest with you most of the time, the only people who will really enjoy or see your first projects are you family and friends. The objective of being an amazing illustrator is diligence. When I was a freshman at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, my professor was a very stubborn and hard man. He would walk around to each illustrator and give tips and hints to becoming better, while evaluating their talent and work ethic. Soon he came to this arrogant and cocky student. He would talk and act as if his work was next to God. Soon My professor came up behind him and said "let me see your pencil." The student very arrogantly gave him the pencil with a smirk and stepped back. My professor turned to the student, broke the pencil and threw it out the window. He then told the student, "You should change your major.", clearly a very mean move but honest.
   The reality of it all is that you're going to hit rough times. The student did change his major and to be honest, it was for the best. The one's who take the criticism and roll with it. Now don't get me wrong it's going to suck for more than a day, or more than a week; but it's those who take those issues and keep going who are real artists. I had a friend who turned in an assignment along side mine and got a better grade. In my eyes I saw myself as the better artist and when he got the better grade, I almost lost it. I complained, threw my hands up and just couldn't find a reason. Hindsight shows that he deserved it because the boy could do environments like nobodies business. After that day I fought for every grade and worked on everything that I believed I was weak at. I believe every artist should take this saying to heart, and every person seeing themselves as a work of art believe this. A broken pencil can still write. So hey everyone out there keep working and keep surviving, long suffering will bring you closer to God and closer to success. 

Shades of Grey

  Shades and tints are valuable uses of drawing. When you need to add realism to a otherwise flat image; shades give it a sense of depth. In art terminology this can also be described as chiaroscuro. You can literally save a boring image by adding value to it. This effect also changes the mood of a image. The image changes from something solid and strong to something dark and ominous. Or it can change to something strong and intense.
  So applying this to my life I have to say that my life hasn't been a cake walk. I'm almost home and something had to cut my life here in Florida short. My last day at Gamestop is on Tuesday and I was expecting to work at my second job the rest of the week and finish this series up on Thursday with some big rap up. Funny thing is, today my tennis job fired me. He came up with the reason that I wasn't doing enough and it wasn't working out. It was a shock to say, but to be honest it wasn't a permanent thing. Now have to ask what's next. You see before this all started my life was just blah. Plane and regular. When I made the move to Florida my life felt like it had some meaning. Now with all this mess I'm in, I feel like I'm in a grey fog. I feel like I have no depth like I'm not sure how to get my Mojo back.

  This being fired thing really hit my confidence hard. I have to stay strong though. I can't allow this haze of mediocrity stop me from my future. If anyone out there has hit rock bottom like me, realize you are not alone. Too many times do people allow themselves to doubt their future because of their current situation. Do not doubt your calling. In fact, when the chips are down believe even harder. Darkness only gives depth to your image and makes you even better. You can do it and I can to. Don't doubt yourself, I know you can and I can. 

Long brush strokes

The best kind of lines in art are usually the long flowing lines. These marks make the image look more natural and fluid. Some type of artists decide to stick with small, fraying, overlapping lines; but to keep consistency in thought and in stroke, long flowing lines are the best way to go.
  It's difficult to align this topic to life, because in life long flowing moments are hard to come by. Life is unpredictable like the fraying sometimes overlapping lines. The truth is that it's OK to have fraying lines, it's OK to have overlapping lines or moments in life. Truth be told it's almost impossible to have a perfect flowing life from beginning to end. The important thing is that if you have overlapping lines or moments that repeat themselves that, at some point you learn from your mistake. You may stray a little like a fraying line, in fact it's going to happen. You have to see the silver lining in it all. In life the silver lining is the purpose of you life. In art the silver lining is the line that best gets you to your destination.
  So for you out there who are reading this and are getting art tips and life tips, stay on course. Don't allow life to keep you repeating the same area or straying too far off course. If you keep repeating, like pencil marks, your life will get darker and darker until your page rips. So fight the good fight like I am. You are too close to the lines to see the whole picture but trust me when I say, if you have a purpose in life your picture will be the best drawing you've ever done.

Artist Block

  It's not uncommon for an artist in any day to hit a road block. Sometimes it seems like it snowballs on ya. It starts off simple like your pencil breaks, then turns into over erasing a page and it tears, then it could turn into everything you draw comes out wrong. No matter what it is what it is. You can't predict when these bad days are coming, you can only control how you react to them.
  So today was suppose to be a great day. I got a call last night about an interview for a full time position with Verizon wireless. I'm excited and scared for the position. Then the slightest thing threw off my day. I went to see if the new episode of "The Walking Dead" was up and come to find out it had it's mid season finale so it wasn't coming back till January. Then my computer started freezing up. It was the snowball effect. Then I might have found out the couch I'm sleeping on has bedbugs. I know this because I've been getting a series of mosquito like bites all over my arms and parts of my legs. I couldn't really explain it; I just knew it itched like a mutha luva. No matter how positive my life begins to look, the devil is right there to take my silver lining and run it through the mud. But like a bad day, I find the bright spots through it all. So I plan to sleep on the floor; it's not lavish but it's somewhere. I plan on being up an hour earlier before the time I should wake up to assure I have everything for this interview.
   I refuse to allow these simple things to ruin what may be something that could change my life for the better. Team positive and Team God all the way.

Splash Page

  A picture can tell a thousand words. The funnest version of Illustration, at least from my perspective is doing splash pages. This single page incorporates a single image that holds tremendous detail and in itself can tell an entire story. A lot of splash pages have images going on in the background that can detail underlining story lines or a hidden plot line. So many conclusions can be drawn from this one image.
  Bringing this back to my story. If I were to do a splash image of myself, what story would it tell? I'm sure I could do an entire comic on myself or even just this story, but I wonder what do I stand for, what would be in the background, and would this page be an epic enough that it would inspire someone else who is doing their own splash page?  
  So what do you stand for? In your splash page, how many things have you turned away because you don't want to be called a loser, or geek, pathetic, or just an outcast? So many things that are cool now, were once perceived as odd or off kilter. I know there are things that you want to do that you may be embarrassed to tell everyone about; but to be honest let your freak flag fly. Now I'm not saying go out and become some Satanist who sacrifices virgin donkeys. I'm saying, in the end when someone sees your big picture, what will it say?
  I'm glad I've done and failed. I've been told I don't look ahead, and I'm not someone who is responsible. Believe it or not, I'm more than my exterior. My splash page will be the most vibrant dedication to God's glory that I can make it. So I ask again, what does yours say?

Sketchy

A lot of people believe sketches to be the final product of a drawing. When the term sketch is meant to stand for the layout of a drawing before anything final is actually laid. This isn't to say that a sketch isn't important, but sketches aren't the result of someone drawing an image; a sketch is just the beginning of something great.
I say this to say that I am still in the sketch phase. I've began my fast. I've started thinking about the options for my future. A lot of young people believe that by the time you're my age that you should be laying down some permanent lines, but in today's world, who's to say when someone should just settle down. To be honest I can't see myself really stopping. I have a spirit to concur this world and build everyone around me. So this is the beginning of something great; Florida's chapter was a great experience, now I can't wait to see what God has for me. 

Comics

  Comics are I believe to be one of the most over looked sources of entertainment in the world. Sure they are all being turned into sometimes great movies, but the truth is that there are so many talented writers and story tellers out there that we just over look. Comics grasp your mind and lock you into a story that can go any direction. The best stories are told when the main characters don't seem to be impervious to pain or immortal.
   I say this to bring you to this conclusion to welcome you to my next journey in life. I literally gave Florida the old college try and well came up short. I've had some opportunities, and well as hard as I tried, it didn't pan out. So like in every comic, my story is coming to it's epic conclusion. I like to say my life here has been very Batman like, with the amount of solitude I've kept and constantly on my own crusade, but I can't find any hero that would fit into the description of me.
  So like many heroes who've faded to black; I begin my finale here in Florida with one more fast, and blog I hope you follow till it's conclusion. Welcome ladies and gents to my Series finale called Drawing my way home. Let's all pray that this leads to something bigger and better, or at least leads me to something.