"Caroling"

This was one of the comparatively few panels upon finishing I pushed back from the drawing table (and then again at the computer) and exclaimed to myself "that'll do." In other words at along every step of the creative process, I was pleased with the result, watching it flow from the end of the pen: from concept to doodle to pencil then ink and finally in print. Usually somewhere along the way I'll find something that I make a mental note about "well now that could have been done better" but just keep cranking the work out anyways - the flow of the production pipeline dictates moments of self-critiquing more often than not happens in retrospect, when one is looking at the printed page of the final version, not as it happens. Same stuff I say to my students: spend a little more time on your work... it shows!

As a side-note, when I was showing off the pencil of this particular piece, someone quipped about the stereotype of an alcoholic Native Alaskan  - apparently laying on the ground was enough to create an erroneous association. As that tripped a major red flag for me, I had the relatively newfound editorial power to utilize some color theory and make a definitive edit as to identity cue. I always appreciate input + commentary on works in progress, and that is reflected in the drilling I do in the studio classrroom when we frequently hold critiques, both formal and/or informal, scheduled and/or spontaneous, group and/or individual. All that being said a working artist eventually balances that with learning to trust yourself, with just enough self-doubt to keep a foot in both worlds, the private + the public.

Also to extrapolate the completed drawing from this scrap of hieroglyphic scribblings is sometimes a task beyond me. As in, looking at it in the morning and not have any freakin' idea, not a single clue as to what it's about. You can go through a lot in life that way.