Rusty Fingers and Finding my Muse by nuclearday

NUCLEARDAY'S BLOG

nuclearday

Rusty Fingers and Finding my Muse
Saturday, February 18, 2006

Much like love, creativity seems to be fickle mistress. You just never know when something's gonna come out of the blue and smack you upside the head with a pointy stick. Generally tends to be when you're least expecting it, too.

Said this before, so I'll try to be brief, but this past month or so has been a pretty exciting time; and I owe no small piece of gratitude to Joss Whedon for giving me Firefly and showing me that it hasn't all been done before.

After five years of schooling (well, I'm sure school was in there at some point... most of that time is kind of a blur, really :) I managed to pick up a BFA in Sequential Art from SCAD. I believe that was back in 2001, but I've got some troubles remembering the exact timeline. (Which is another story entirely.) Wasn't a fun time when I graduated, lots of personal stuff; that whole entering the real world angst, death in the family, blah blah blah, etc... Somewhere around that time I sort of ran out of anything to say in my art.

Past few years have been pretty good actually, so I'm not complaining. Holding a steady (if crappy) job, get to spend quality time with my siblings, etc. (As the oldest of three, I sorta tend to identify alot with Simon...) But really just stopped drawing and writing all together. Was starting to wonder if I ever would, and around last year was starting to seriously consider a life that didn't include any artistic endeavors. (Aside from a small sideline writing uhm... erotica online under a pen-name... actually good for some pocket money, though...:) I never had any expectations of being the second coming of H.P. Lovecraft or anything, but I'd always sorta wanted to be "in" that sort of group.

So... this is getting long, and I haven't even gotten to my point. So, long boring story short, Firefly came along and something just clicked. I came away from the BDM immediately wanting a project to work on. I've put a couple images out here in the Blue Sun Room (really the number one reason I started hanging around here was all the great talent I'd seen.) There's three of those up now, and that's about a third of what I've been drawing.

Been real hit or miss, trying to work the rust out of my fingers. Drawing, I've found, ain't quite like riding a bike. Some of the stuff that used to be rather easy... isn't. I've even fallen back onto an old habit I thought I'd kicked of transposing faces of people I know into the people I'm trying to draw. (Especially River... they look nothing alike, but everytime I try a River, she comes out looking like a girl I used to know in high-school...:)

Anyways, that's just a really long-winded way of me saying thanks to the people who posted comments on my stuff. Really means alot to me to get some encouragement and constructive criticism from you guys. Got sort of an idea in my head now, trying to do a series of sketches and they'll likely have more of an impact once they're all done.

Couldn't shake this image I had of members of the crew (well... probably mostly Kaylee) running around with a camera and taking snapshots of the Big Damn Heroes in their downtime. Probably not the best idea for me to get back into drawing by 1)Trying to draw actual people as opposed to my own characters and 2)Trying to accomplish that from screencaps and other "flat" media. But I figure now that I finally have a 'concept' I'd better run with it while it lasts... I've learned I can't always trust what little creativity I have to be there when I need it.

Anyways, that's why Firefly means so much to me personally. It showed me something I was starting to think I had lost for good. So I'll be getting back to rubbing lead all over the gorram place. I'm looking forward to my next day off, so I'll have time to watch the BDM once again, only this time with the commentaries.

Also, just got in the mail the other day my issue of the Serenity comic from 258 West Authentic signed by our lovely Jewel Staite. *squee* (What can I say, I always fall for "the cute one".) Is it creepy that the only things hanging on my wall is the Serenity movie poster, the signed issue, and an old Creedence poster? ;p

COMMENTS

Saturday, February 18, 2006 12:22 PM

MPHILLIPS

hey it'll come back.. up untill three years ago I hadn't put brush or pencil to paper in over twenty years...It takes a little bit to get the kinks out but if you had it once you still can get it...I find you get an idea put it down in thumbnail form right away..just a quick little sketch, doesn't have to be much..I got sketch books full of stuff ..Just keep at it

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