Still in SEARCH of Something on Illustration Saturday
Welcome back, friends. Here we are almost a full month into 2023. Temperature check: How is everyone doing? Well and hopefully productive. I hope that all of you have gotten off to a good start on whatever resolutions or goals you may have for yourself this year. I shared a few of my own goals for 2023 in my last post. One of which was going through old sketches and unfinished illustrations and taking them all the way to the finish line. Or at least doing that as much as I can this year while I juggle all the other tasks I've set for myself.
This week's illustration is actually a redo off of the same sketch that I created nine years ago. It was originally done in scratchboard. Admittedly, it was one of my first venture's into the medium and you can definitely tell *face smack* *reddens with embarrassment*
I ABSOLUTELY have always disliked how this illustration came out then. It was just a disaster but I let the shrapnel fall and lie where it may back then. I had already fussed with it enough and it wasn't working. So, like some illustrations, it was abandoned for many many years, until just recently.
There was always something that I just loved about the sketch. The pencil drawing was by far superior to the final illustration (which can sometimes happen.) You just get fussy about it and before you know it *POOF* you've overworked the entire thing like some really bad magic trick.
So, this one definitely came to mind as one of the illustrations that I wanted to pull out and finish. Well, in this particular case, re-finish. I decided not to try and do it in scratchboard again. I REALLY wanted it to be in color. I also knew that I wanted to use my digital collage style to finish it. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, even if I (again) became very fussy about it. This time I was very fussy about color and color pallet. I kinda had this idea in my mind of what I wanted but I just couldn't get my color comps (color compositions) to turn out quite the way that I saw it in my head. I went as far as to "steal" a successful color pallet from one of my favorite illustrator's books. I also made a black-and-white one thinking that maybe I should keep it B/W like the original was.
But still... I just wasn't satisfied. In the end, I went with a loose combination of my 2nd and 4th color comps. Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out. However, there is this part of me that still is not quite satisfied. Who knows? Maybe I will re-do it again after another nine years when I finally figure out what it is that I feel is missing. Maybe I will always be searching for the perfect way to finish it...
*Sigh*
...Some art pieces are like that. I will say this: I am 100% more pleased with it than I was with the previous version of it. lol. So, I think we will just leave it at that.
I went back to read the original post. (And, FYI, you can link to it by either clicking HERE or clicking on the scratchboard version above.) I had just seen Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and was gushing over it a little. Made me want to watch the movie again IMMEDIATELY. lol. And perhaps, I just might this weekend. It got me thinking about whether or not I wanted to add a little bit of philosophy to this post; a sort of bookend or update from the last time I finished this illustration.
I then saw an IG story (which is something that didn't exist nine years ago) from a friend who was discussing that not everything needs context. That we should move past the 2010's decade obsession with making context into content. So it stilled my hand on that some, which is fine. I didn't really know what to say in regard to some philosophical parallel to this illustration or even the process of creating it. The process of creating this illustration has been pretty straightforward and akin to all of my other illustrations that I have made using this process. So no need to dress it up any smarter than it needed to be.
I will do/say this instead:
Nine years ago, I was living in a small town (that I didn't necessarily want to live in [for a relationship].) I was working at a job that didn't treat me well as it was the only game in town. I was nowhere near any of my personal life goals, professional goals, or artistic goals. I thought I was happy, but deep down, I knew that that wasn't true... not really. I was struggling.
Nine years later, I now live in New York City (I place I have dreamed of living in since I was very young). I am no longer in a relationship that wasn't good for me (nor them.) I am pursuing both my professional and artistic goals with vast tenacity. I believe that I am happier now. (I tend to struggle with exactly what defines that word, feeling, or state of being.) But on the whole, in comparison, I am happier now than I was the first time I made this illustration. I still struggle with direction, but we all do (particularly after the last 2-3 recent years of our lives.) The pandemic has definitely thrown many things in sharp relief and I have made changes and adapted to what I feel serves me better. Even though I may struggle or feel lost sometimes here in this big city, I feel more true to myself and to my goals that 20-year-old me wanted to pursue. I'm in the process of pursuing those things... So that's progress, right? lol.
Also, on a related note: While I do not miss living in Americus, I do miss the wonderful friends that I made while I lived there.
I can definitely relate to Walter Mitty from the film. Through circumstance he was spurred onto a grand adventure; something he always had dreamed about in his imagination. While he had this idea of where he wanted to go, it was a great surprise as to how he got there. I think we can all relate to that. We are all on this planet "searching for something" aren't we?
We should all collectively watch a viewing of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty... see where we can end up by the end of the weekend. I'm certainly game for new adventures this year. Are you?
until next time, friends...
Keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all, keep making art.
Cheers,
LEWIS
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