The Art School of Hard Knocks, or The Plight of a Self-taught Artist

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Two days ago I created the storyboard for the final pages of my third book. I can post the pictures now that I’ve finally figured out how to use the Mac Screenshot tool. My frustration level is now so low that I’ve stopped quivering and whining about macOS.

My job as a part-time, temporary substitute project manager will be ending on May 31. It won’t start up again for three months. During the hiatus I’ll be free to finish the book I started writing and drawing 18 months ago. Hardly a day has passed that I haven’t given it some time, my daily inch of progress. In those 18 months I’ve created a monumental number of sketches, experiments, and failures. I’m hoping those failures have been my Art School of Hard Knocks. I’m optimistically believing that I’ve learned something that will help me work more efficiently on my next Jimmy Jay book — Jimmy Jay and the Dolphin Who Took on the Robots. That’s going to be the working title that will inspire me for the next year.

A Krita Day

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I fell asleep at 6pm after work. It was one of my catnaps, a 15-minute snooze that refreshes me for a couple of hours. Afterwards I didn’t feel like working on my book. Instead, I watched a few videos about Krita — watercolor, sketching, some tips — that kind of stuff. Then I sketched this car with its cartoon tires and odd perspective, using Krita, of course.

Every afternoon I take Nacho the Pug for a long walk, rain or shine — as long as it’s not too rainy or too cold for either of us. He loves the rain and leaps up as he tries to bite the drops pelting him. He has a handsome goldenrod colored raincoat, and I have my blue raincoat.

Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of a project, I just want to keep working. I don’t feel like taking him out, but I do. He really needs the walk. He needs to smell every post, telephone pole, and tree. It makes his day. And it make mine, too. As I’m reluctantly walking, I begin to feel uplifted and I start thinking optimistically about the book I’m working on and about the books I plan to write. New ideas rise up from the well of humdrum thoughts I’m swamped with at work. Walking is a blessing.

Sometimes I take a picture of something that catches my eye. Today I saw a rock that I liked, something I can use as a reference the next time I’m struggling to paint a damned rock. Here it is, my fabulous rock.