I am a drawing wimp

[nabbit]

I am an over-sensitive soul: my mojo was severley bruised at the end of last year. The only reason that I though I might have a shot at winning the Observer competition was not because I thought my strip would be the best, but because I wanted to win it the most

Comments

[nabbit]

Cheers, Neal. I 'pencilled' this with a light blue brush pen, whcih I then usually screen out in Photoshop. My first sketches turned out to be the best, and I liked the shading effect of leaving the roughs in there. SO I may use this approach for a while.

[pickled_jo]

I have hi's and lows like that too. Glad to hear you're scribbling again. I'm just sheeping as usual and about to miss a deadline...

[nabbit]

It was the magazine of the week in my local Somerfield! I flipped through to see your name in print. Very cool.
Have you ever wrote any of your own strips? You may be an ideal candidate for a SMILE guest strip.

[pickled_jo]

Oooh? Mag of the week? Cool.

I can't write for toffee. I had to write at uni. I dquirm when I read them back. Awful awful awful!!

[nabbit]

You should probably avoid toffee anyway.

[skullyflower]

Welcome back! Yeah, the tender feelings. I have em too. Knowing better doesn't always help.
Me I try to enjoy what I'm doing while I'm doing it. If I get too caught up on fame, fortune, respect etc. I get to where I can't function at all. When that stuff starts getting me down, I start repeating the phrase "It's just comics" to myself over and over again. And then I listen to inkstuds.

[nabbit]

It's really disabling isn't it? If I was skilled at introspection, the self-doubt could be fuel for comics! But I intend to leave the auto-bio comics to the experts.
I enjoy inkstuds too (although in some of the recent ones it annoys me how much racket they make in the background whilst the guest are speaking.)

[abrassea]

THAT'S what it looks like when you forget how to draw? you're kidding, right?

[nabbit]

I find it really hard; physically quite uncomfortable to draw. I dont think I ever forget how to look, or to imagine stuff, but how to render what I see or imagine in a consistent style takes so much determination and concentration. I have had a workable idea for virtually every stripfight, but sometimes it is not strong enough to justify the effort of drawing it.
I love having created a drawing that I think is good, and I look back at ones that I am proud of but I can't remember that drawing stage.

[mockduck]

The only reason that I though I might have a shot at winning the Observer competition was not because I thought my strip would be the best, but because I wanted to win it the most.

I sympathise entirely; indeed, if I had the spirit, I might even contest your assertion that you wanted it the most. You did deserve it more than I did though; I think I had totally misjudged the number and quality of entrants. Failing to be placed or even mentioned was a bit too stern a reality check for me; it certainly burst my bubble. Commiserations, anyway.

[nabbit]

I'm quite a fatalist: sometimes there are job vacancies that are advertised and they are sooo perfect for me that it is a kick in the teeth when I don't get it. It's like: "why would the gods devise such a perfect position, and advertise it under my nose, and then give it to somebody else?" Answer: I am being punished!. So then I just sulk for a bit.

[nabbit]

Also, I think you're right about spirit: it is a more crucial trait than draughtmanship.