"Room & Board"

I'd say I average maaaybe about one of these every three to five years, one that's "so bad it's good," where I wonder why and how the hell I ever managed to miss this. Guess that's what keeps me cartooning. Far be it from me to ever overextend my welcome, there are days as of late I still sit back and wonder where I'm going because I feel like I'm just now hitting my creative stride, and every time I try something new and different it starts the creative juices flowing again. Still playing with a new palette.

Also, I hate pastels. Dry ones, like chalk pastels are almost deal-able, but never oil pastels. Here's a classroom demo I did using the original line art for this panel, the last one being done back in 2017 - nice to know I haven't improved in seven years. Actually, in all seriousness, this is a perfect example of how you won't ever improve without constant practice. Can't think of any more crucial lesson. I think it's important for students - especially the advanced ones/art majors - to see firsthand the limitations of anyone's skill set, as in, just because I won't wind up with a Work of Fine Art doesn't detract from the playful impulse to experiment and "...let's see what happens" (one of my favorite lines to say during classroom exercise). Far from feeding the imposter syndrome negative feedback loop, it's a reminder that making art, and teaching too, is an awful lot like attending a 12-step meeting: There's always goona be someone doing better than you, and there'll always be somebody "worse." Work through any inner doubts by ignoring them, because nobody's gonna ever do you.