The move has been a very rough process, during which anything that could backfire and go wrong did. I'm dorming with six other girls in an apartment-style dorm, which would be great if it were not for the six other girls. Don't get me wrong, they're all very nice and we sometimes have fun talking, but they party and go to football games while I'm at my desk playing Skyrim, so there's virtually nothing in common.
I'm also reconsidering what it means to be a teacher and whether or not I want to follow through on this plan. My classes on teaching are really hammering in the responsibilities of a classroom and the difficulties new teachers face. It's a bleak outlook, to be blunt. Between the overall miserable college experience and the doubtful career prospects, I've not been happy here.
I got myself back into drawing last year when I joined the Lackawanna College Creative Arts Club. I feel like my abilities have improved substantially in my recent works. I practiced with colored pencils that I hadn't touched in years and played with watercolors.
I began doing small animal characters and worked on improving my line work. I bought new supplies and practiced characters from reference and my own imagination. Looking through my sketch books, I can't believe how drastic the improvements are between the early pages and the latest.
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| A Jam Bear drawn back in March |
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| Zero from Drakengard 3 drawn from reference in June |
One of my goals as an artist has always been to see a character in my mind and be able to put them down on a page. Especially as a writer, the ability to create people I've never seen before is a handy talent to have. It's something I've been practicing especially hard.
I've been drawing a lot lately to deal with the stress of college. I find it very grounding. I recently spent several hours a day for a solid eight days working on a Christmas present for a friend (just in case you're reading this, Justin, no, you do not get to see it early!). It was a tremendously therapeutic process, getting lost for large chunks of time in ink and colored pencil.
With that project complete, I didn't know what to draw next. I've decided I like drawing animal characters, and my adventures in Dungeons and Dragons had inspired me to write a story of a character who wants to be a bard. This character is unfortunately talentless when it comes to music, so he uses magic to make everyone think he's an amazing bard.
I was talking with my friend about what kind of animal would make a good bard wizard if I were to do this as a whimsical illustrated story or a comic. He pitched the idea of a bird, maybe an owl or a crow. Well, crows are perfect for this. They're associated with witches and magic, and they're voices are not that of their songbird cousins. With the idea in mind, I started doodling.
I'd never so easily been able to put a character on a page before. I'm very proud of how far my abilities have come. I love his design, and while I'm still not 100% sure what format his story will take, I know I have the ability to do it well.
I am starting to consider switching gears with school and going for something more artistic. Art has always been what keeps me going. Perhaps it should be more of a priority in my life than it is. I don't think I would ever want to be an illustrator, but graphic design is high on my list of alternate career choices. I don't really know where my art adventures will take me, but at the very least, I'm going to keep moving forward.
