Or, I guess we could say, the death of my art skills.
There was a time I used to draw every day. I don’t know that I would say my skills were ever really honed, but at least they were consistent. If I sat down to draw something, I had a vague idea of how it was going to turn out. Consistency, it seems, is the first to go.
A couple weeks ago, I sat down to doodle a little chibi version of Andriun, in the spirit of his book being released late last month. I got it done, but man… it was something.
Don’t get me wrong, it worked out okay. But I definitely don’t love my art attempts like I used to, and it makes me wonder if I would benefit from getting back to it. I only drew two things in 2022; it wasn’t a great year for me to be artistic, though I did do other things, like sculpting some doll heads and making some book covers. But there was a time I thought I’d be doing art for a living, too, before I decided to focus on my passion for writing.
Being able to draw a bit was a boon for some book covers. I’ve had people say they love that I drew the covers for Snakesblood. But those sort of burned me out, and I sort of wonder… how long would I have to be at it before art started to come back to me and feel natural again? A month? Two months? A whole year?
Maybe that’s a goal for 2023. Looking at drawing again, spending more time doodling, bringing back some things I enjoyed before life went wild. 12 months, 12 drawings. Not necessarily anything complicated, maybe just line art, or flats, or whatever tickles my fancy but gets me drawing again. The new year is right around the corner. It’s time to start planning goals, right?