Photography wasn’t always my drug of choice.

There was a time when I loved to draw.  I don’t know exactly when it started, but it would be reasonable to suggest the age of 12.  That’s when I got into comic books, an obsession that would last 30 years.

I’ve studied and attempted many forms of art.  There are a handful that I think I would have been okay at, but probably never great.  Stand Up Comedy comes to mind.  It isn’t that I was without talent. I just lacked a certain spark needed to shine.  Drawing was the same. 

I often tried to draw like some of my favorite artists of the time, with little success.  Probably my biggest influence was Bruce Timm, one of the creators of the legendary Batman: the Animated Series. 

Bruce Timm was a student of arguably the most influential comic book artist of all time, Jack Kirby.  You may not be familiar with Kirby, but you are familiar with some of his creations: Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, the X-men and hundreds of others.  Anyway, Timm was an acolyte of Kirby and his style existed in a similar vein. 

His work was stylized, but based on simple shapes.  This made his style appealing for someone who wanted to draw comic books.  Because it was simple, right?

Not really.  Great artists work hard to make what they do look easy.

Eventually, I started drawing real life.  I had taken some photographs during my senior year of high school.  This was years before my interest in photography would take hold.  I bought sketch pads and started drawing the people I cared about.  This got mixed results. If you saw the photos that the art was based on, you could kind of see a resemblance. But really, it wasn’t very good.

Eventually I moved on to people in magazines. I discovered charcoal. Then I started drawing famous people. Mostly women I found attractive at the time.

That’s kind of where I hit my stride. Many times it was obvious who I was drawing.

Then one day, I just stopped. I don’t remember why. Maybe it was just because my life got more interesting.

Drawing is a skill that relies on muscle memory. After a while, I had forgotten what little I learned. Now I couldn’t draw to save my life.

I’m okay with that. I’m a much better photographer than I am a traditional artist.

Though I have been thinking about taking an art class recently.

Just for fun.