Do you like to draw, paint, sketch or doodle? Did you ever wonder if you have the skills to become a serious art student? Discover the artist in you by taking a free Art Test.

Draw Figgle! He’s on the left. He’ll wait.

Done?

Once you’ve finished, wait two years. Then wait two more. Two more, once again. Oh heck, make it an even ten. A decade!

Now draw Figgle. Notice how difficult it is? That’s time, passing you by! That’s what happens to the artist in you if you don’t focus on your craft.

You wonder if you have the skills to become a hilarious art student. You do, but you have to draw every single day. Lots.

You might have to quit your dang day job to get up-to-speed.

~ q ~ u ~ i ~ v ~ e ~ r ~

Let’s see. It’s the eighties … or early nineties. You’re strumming the same three chords on a beat-up acoustic guitar. Pants are pegged. Pits are stained. Gut is sucked in. Belt is … unfortunate. Smile really big now, you’ve got the best job ever!

What club do you want me to join, again?

Imagine Buffaloaf here dancing to the theme song to Benny Hill. It’s a really slow, bouncy dance, and his arms don’t drop the whole time. He just hops from foot to foot, really. Occasionally, he spins and shakes his tail back and forth. Kevin James comes to mind.

I want to try to make my drawings look like they have weight, like they take up space. If you have some feedback about this, lemme know.

In the room of project ideas in my head, the cartooning-bug, once dried-up and dead in the corner of the ceiling, has become juicy again, glowing, and has swooped down and bit me. SPACE started it, after meeting people like Matt Hawkins. He draws “Cowboy Clyde and the Pirates,” my favorite find at SPACE. He had me laughing out-loud a lot. I recommend it, especially if you find yourself working a job that you really don’t like but need to keep to pay the bills. Also described as a “G.O.O.D.” job, (get out of debt.)

I’m glad I finished my little Emet and Jhomm stories. I’ll probably come back to them. But the cartoony stories and characters are easier to think up right now. Guys like Buffaloaf, Figgle and Gweeb seem to really live and talk and over-eat and make uncertain noises. I hope to finish off a nice-sized graphic novel some day, and I think the first one will be made up of short stories featuring cartoon characters. (It’s important to make your goals specific. I also hope to travel somewhere someday, and to learn more about something.)

Steve set me up with a “Faber-Castell PITT artist brush pen” at SPACE. Andy told him about the brush pens.

I’m-a love the pen! I’m a-want the pen, and I’m a-need the pen.

I’m slow and messy, and this pen reduces the amount of brush and ink-bottle maintenance I have to tend to when I’m inking. The pen got me into inking again. The pen is mighty. Go to your local Dick Blick and kneel before the pen.