a long, drawn out post ...

Artful Dodger has recently begun posting Sex Blogger Funnies!, which are blog-related cartoons, and he's doing a good job with them.

But they got me thinking about my drawing -- rather, the lack of it for a long time. You see, ever since I was a kid I loved drawing. Art (not Dodger) was one of my favorite subjects; it just allowed you to be so creative.

I drew all the time and all over the place. I'd draw on my folders, in my class notes, in sketch books ... pretty much any white space. I used pencils, pens, charcoal, crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc. A drawing of mine, "Time," which was basically a bunch of clocks and watches, was published in this annual Department of Defense Schools' book of art and writing when I was in the fifth grade. I submitted drawings to CarTOONS, hoping to see my crazy car published in their fan art section.

In high school during my senior year, I drew some cartoon sharks for logos and as our Class of '87 mascot. I was also into "graffiti," but mostly on paper. I would do people's names -- usually girls -- using different techniques to make it look like chrome or something else cool and neat that they'd like. Yeah, I'd try pretty much anything back in the high school days; but which of us guys wouldn't?

I pretty much stopped when I got to my second or third year of college and met this amazing artist by the name of Jesse. Now I just kind of drew and sketched and doodled. Jesse was an ARTIST. His comic book type characters were amazing, as was his other work. I was lucky to work with him at the newspaper and, for a time, at a local lifestyle magazine. He did some brilliant stuff at both places and kept getting better. In fact, he's actually gone on to big success, doing animation and stuff for some big cartoon series -- nationally televised stuff.

I think he reads this blog now and the, so hey Jesse! Mad props!

While it was great meeting Jesse and becoming friends -- and feeding him at Casa George -- it also served to show me that I was a rank amateur. I didn't think about it then, but I never really had any artist training and education -- no real classes about techniques or anatomy or any of that; I kind of just drew by feel. But at the time I decided that I would never really be an artist, that my strengths lay with writing, and so I pretty much gave up drawing.

Oh, I did and still do doodle during long meetings, or any other time I'm sitting around with time to kill and some blank paper and any kind of writing implement. But nothing that could be considered in any way "art."

But lately I've been reading a couple of art books -- one on sketching and one called "Anatomy for Artists" -- that have got me thinking about drawing again. In fact, this weekend, after I get paid Friday, I was planning on heading to the office supply store to get some graphite pencils of various degrees of hardness, a gum eraser, a regular eraser, a little pencil sharpener and some sketch pads.

And Artful Dodger's toons have served to add further fuel to the fire. I've even volunteered to contribute some cartoons. *gulp*

So, now and then, you just might see some sketches and drawings appear in this space, depending on how brave and daring I'm feeling on any given day.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• Ancient Chamorros did some cave paintings, though not many -- most caves here are limestone, and it could be they got covered up or eroded because of all the water seepage. The paintings are basically petroglyphs, and have been enjoying a resurgence as modern artists replicate them or do their own take on the drawings.