094: Let's DRAW MORE in 2024

Wherein we get into the new year and we show you the next community project!

Jan 07, 2024

The First Week of the Year...

This week I woke up and went to work every day, only this time as a full-time "comic creator"……. Again.

I never want this newsletter to be "ABOUT ME", I cringe when I write stuff about myself. I want the newsletter to be more ABOUT US.
Artists. Dreamers.

As you may or may not know, it's not my first rodeo.

I drew comics and art of all kinds full-time, professionally for 13 years.
At some point I said I'd “never work for the man again!”
I was so headstrong and determined in my mid 20's.

In my late 30's I felt unsure and unsettled. I went back to a day job for 11 years.
Mainly to support my family with good benefits and the sense of "real job security".
I could still work on comics and fun things on the side, and that was fine!
There's no shame in that. In many ways it felt smarter.

Back to present day...
I can't lie, it feels GREAT to wake up and “go to work” and the job is "Let's Make Comics!"

It's been a long time since I felt this happy inside. It's almost unnerving in a weird way. Like, I'm waiting for a surprise a-hole to show up and ruin my day.
But instead... I just meet MORE great and positive people.
That is wonderful and refreshing.

Please read between the lines for the REAL takeaway from what I wrote above.... that's the last 25 years of my life.
25 years is a lonnnng time.

A quarter of a century! Wow. Nearly half of my life so far. (I'll be 48 real soon.)

And much of it seems just like yesterday. Time has flown by.
I hate that it seems to go faster these days. That’s how it goes.

My point is that the really good things, your dreams, need time to happen.

In that 25 year period, this is actually my second "DREAM JOB". In 2006 I won that "Comic Book Challenge" and I learned a lot in that "15 minutes of fame".

Within 3 years that was all done.
Washed up. I felt like a "has-been"

I dealt with deep depression. Silent panic attacks I didn't even realize I was having. Personal life problems. I felt like quitting all the time. I put that pencil down several times……But I kept picking it back up.

Studying stoicism I became keenly aware that nothing lasts forever.
Friends, family, a job, a marriage. Nice weather.
It can all be gone in a snap.

Those kind of thoughts made me enjoy the moments of the NOW even more.
And that changed my entire vibration years ago.

It's a feeling, a pause, when I look around and think...
"all of THESE days ARE the NEW good old days."

I hope that makes sense to you?
If it doesn't, it will some day.

And yes... I have a DREAM JOB again.

It's wonderful. I'll enjoy every single moment of it, and I hope it lasts forever.
I woke up with a smile on my face every day this week.
My face hurts from smiling so much this week.

BUT… I also remember it was only a year ago I was waking up very unhappy, I wrote this in week 43:

…. there it was again. That funny feeling. The sound drops out.
The thoughts rush in. The feeling like I have to get out of there.
I need a new plan.
I don’t like that. That’s not a feeling that’s sustainable for me.
My joy was kinda robbed away from me this week.
I didn’t draw from Monday to Wednesday night…

I’m so relieved those feelings are over. Those storms have long passed. And it feels good to know that when new storms may come, I’ll weather them even better.

My wish FOR YOU, and all my art friends reading this, that you feel as happy as I felt this week.

Whether because you scored an amazing gig, OR you're just feeling great and confident with your own self-expression through your art.

Whatever it is YOU are going through, KEEP GOING, KEEP DRAWING, KEEP SHARP.

WANT TO DIVE DEEPER INTO THE CRAFT?

If you're interested in diving deeper into the craft of comics, storytelling and production, I'm going to be discussing this even MORE in the DAILY DRAWING CLUB e-mails this year. That's our 5 bucks a month club, you get a daily drawing prompt and other perks and surprises. Join here!

✏️ LET'S MAKE A COMIC TOGETHER!

Okay so Ally helped cook up this fun idea for a sort of collaborative community comic. This will take the place of the weekly drawing prompt through March. Here's how it works and how you can take part!

Every week I'll draw or post 1 panel featuring our little mascot SKULLY.
YOU draw the next panel! Any medium you wish.
We’ll choose a panel as the next official panel in the story.
THEN the next official panel will be presented in next Sunday’s newsletter. So on and so forth…