No preliminary doodle for this one, aside from the anxious beaver detail. The wording underwent a few different versions, all digitally tweaked in post-production. I am also rather pleased at the palette - some of the more recent color pieces were cranked out while pushing my comfort zone and attempting to speed the process up to where it at least matches my time when shading in just black & white.
After inking I leaned back and looked at them and decided to call
anything from that time my "pandemic period." Not that there is any
aesthetic differences or hallmarks in particular, more of a sense that
if I stopped caring what I look like during the pandemic then that
should naturally spill over into the world of make-believe, where I was
living half the time.
Mashing of mandibles aside (which is a thing in the pandemic), it was also part of a series that lent credence to the psychology of art therapy in how drawings can serve as a creative outlet, and perhaps a way to release stress. GEE YA THINK?
Stress relief started me as a cartoonist when I was in sixth grade, a bit of an outcast at school, and squeezed between my desire to help my father be happy by crewing in his racing dinghy, and considerable anxiety about getting dumped into the water, especially in rough conditions when such a thing is likely. I scribbled an extremely pessimistic series of graphic shorts called This Afternoon at Sea. Also did single panels about issues at school, like being a foot shorter than everyone else, and very nearsighted, thrust into a lacrosse program. It was my first experience with combat sports.
ReplyDeleteA life raft in many ways. Were it not for the buffer zone of creative outlets & expressions I suspect an entire generation would have been be lost to medication. And school budget cuts are finishing the job...
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