00:00:03:17 – 00:00:39:22
Speaker 1
Welcome to another episode of My Cluttered Mind. Hi, This is Todd from toddYoungONLINE. I just trying to document these sketchbooks. Here’s another one from early mid-nineties. Surprisingly enough, one that I finished. But it’s full of, you know, me doing figures and kind of, I guess, character design kind of hit or miss with stuff. A lot of naked figures, because I still wasn’t able to really do clothing all that well.
00:00:39:23 – 00:01:25:22
Speaker 1
I will not say that I am now, but this is, you know, a lot of these are just me. I mean, they’re doodles more or less. And then when I hit on something, just kind of expand on it. I wasn’t really focusing on. I mean, sure, there are these are some kind of anatomy studies, but I really needed and still do need to really dig into anatomy and be able to visualize the figure work from work, from life models and even the photographs to understand what the body is doing and how to build the character.
00:01:25:22 – 00:02:02:22
Speaker 1
So I can do that even even from my imagination. So, but, you know, I, I bet I would for this one. I really was kind of working on character designs and anatomy, and I had this comic book idea in mind, and I mean, it’s a little thinking back. I mean, it’s derivative of what I was reading at the time as far as image and Marvel and some DC and trying to work from there.
00:02:03:00 – 00:02:53:05
Speaker 1
But I mean, everybody’s got to start somewhere and it’s better to start from somewhere than to never start at all. So which is kind of common. But yeah, so I’m just kind of watching this as I flipped through and just, you know, I’m not really that much further along in my anatomy studies than I was here. And I really need to and I’ve recently purchased some art lessons online and sites and stuff to really start digging into this because I found myself 20 years later, 25 years later, this is where I’m going back to.
00:02:53:08 – 00:03:33:05
Speaker 1
You know that when I sit down to doodle or draw that my interest in and always kind of goes back to the figure as a subject and really trying and wanting to tell stories visually. So I need to get better. And, you know, now is as good a time as any to do that. I mean, real quick document where I am getting things from, I’ve got some classes on domestic, dawg.
00:03:33:07 – 00:04:15:01
Speaker 1
I’ve got bodies in motion photo that has a lot of reference. Line of action is another site that I came across that has some really good resources. YouTube has if you haven’t checked them out. Prokop. Practicum PR okay. Okay. There are they’ve got free lessons on YouTube and and the site itself is just chock full of of really cool stuff and from, from people that you would respect and know.
00:04:15:03 – 00:04:44:16
Speaker 1
So it’s amazing to me how much further how quickly things have come. You know it’s it’s I used to go to Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks and be Dalton and look in their clearance sections and buy art books. And, you know, I used to have this huge collection. I got tired of moving it and I got rid of it.
00:04:44:18 – 00:05:16:15
Speaker 1
Most of my, you know, the majority I’ve got more books now digitally than I ever did physically, and that’s saying something I was able to buy. You know, I had a comic book collection that was like 30 loan boxes, bagged and board. Now it’s my comic collection digitally is like 14,000 plus I used to buy. I still do buy off Comixology, but dark horse dot com.
00:05:16:17 – 00:05:34:04
Speaker 1
And I was getting Shonen Jump for a while. My daughter and I used to really love the the manga and that is a value that Shonen jump Brick is a is a value you can’t beat.
00:05:34:05 – 00:06:06:06
Speaker 1
But yeah, I mean, these were all of my influences trying to, you know, I still look back and I’m like, I kind of I was hitting on something at one point and I just wasn’t developing it like I should of and now really want to go back to find that, you know, that individual style and, and really want to be able to express myself and stronger visually.
00:06:06:08 – 00:06:36:22
Speaker 1
I believe, you know, that you can do a lot of you know a one hitting on something one time is kind of a fluke. I heard I was watching something and a photographer was talking about, you know, that he had taken like a picture that was better than he was a photographer. And I completely agree that, you know, sometimes you can hit something as a as an artist and you’re like, wow, where did that come from?
00:06:37:00 – 00:07:09:03
Speaker 1
But you have to keep, you know, being able to do that, you know, spontaneously and at will rather than, you know, hoping to get lucky. You know, like clothing and folds are something that I still need to work desperately on. You know, I’ve I’ve really gotten inspired by. At first it was kind of intimidating, like a Pinterest to a certain degree.
00:07:09:03 – 00:07:44:01
Speaker 1
I don’t really check out Pinterest too much, but it’s more Instagram. And now Tik Tok, too, where you know, artists, it’s posting their their work and their their process and it’s like, holy crap, they are so good. But it’s like you don’t and can’t, you know, everybody develops in their own way at their own pace. And you have to appreciate what you’re doing when you’re doing it and be consistent with exploration and keep pushing yourself to get better.
00:07:44:01 – 00:08:06:08
Speaker 1
It’s just because somebody is doing something doesn’t mean you can’t do it. And I continue to say that. And I had a, you know, one of the most flattering things I’ve had happen to me at some point was somebody told me I, you know, I like how you do this and I want to be able to do that someday, too.
00:08:06:08 – 00:09:05:19
Speaker 1
And I’m like, wow, You know, like, thank you. I really appreciate that. That makes me feel pretty darn good. But I mean, it’s it’s true. It’s, you know, it it’s also given me the the the presence of mind, I guess, to, you know, when you when you look at somebody’s work and really appreciate it and just go, wow, but not to diminish what’s there by you know calling it calling it and I want to see talent or over you know, thinking that it just happened because when you see it a lot of time went into that and it’s it’s goes without saying that the more time you put into doing something, the better you get
00:09:05:19 – 00:09:42:09
Speaker 1
at it. So, you know, and especially when you for me you know I’m as a record this I’m 52 and I follow a lot of of the artists that you know for comic books and illustration that I’ve seen since I started collecting comics or reading comics when I was, you know, in high school and remembering when they were kids and, you know, when these guys were, you know, some of them were younger than I was, and some of them weren’t that much older.
00:09:42:09 – 00:10:17:19
Speaker 1
And to see them now and to see to be able to see how their styles have have evolved is just another sign that, you know, you got to keep going. You got to find what you love to do and do it even if it’s not even if it’s not your main source of of of income that, you know, sometimes you have to have a source of income to be able to fund what you really love doing.
00:10:17:19 – 00:11:01:18
Speaker 1
But at the same time, I think we’re in a in a kind of a time now where and I keep going back to this saying it’s like it’s so good that they can’t ignore you. And it’s it’s it’s more more channels and more avenues now to be seen and have people, you know, somehow have you make a living off of your skills, which I completely believe in, that by the time you get to a certain point in your life and some people it’s sooner and some people may be a little bit later, but by the time you get to a certain point in your life, you have amassed enough skills that you shouldn’t have to
00:11:01:18 – 00:11:42:12
Speaker 1
worry about making a living off those skills. And I am and I am preaching without having figured it out myself yet. But, you know, there’s there are you know, there are enough places out there in enough ways. And in a global economy with the Internet that you should be able to take what you’ve learned and go out and market your skills and capitalize on your own skills and not have to worry about having somebody else.
00:11:42:14 – 00:12:39:01
Speaker 1
You know, you clock in and do your 40 hours and then them give you a paycheck that you should be able to find people that need your skills and then you be able to, you know, get paid for those in a you know, on your own. And whether that’s, you know, whether that’s art, whether that’s design, whether that’s process, whether, you know, figuring something out, whether it’s creating something or just, you know, using your mind and your skills and what you’ve learned to be able to help and provide value for, you know, anybody, whether you know, whether it’s, you know, buying a lawnmower and finding some number of people and cutting their grass and then
00:12:39:01 – 00:13:08:02
Speaker 1
building on that or, you know, there are so many different ways for us to to to find. We just need to be a little bit more entrepreneurial and think outside the box and think outside of I have to go get a job. And I think that’s one thing that at least to me, that we’re missing in school or in education in some way, that we go there.
00:13:08:04 – 00:13:58:15
Speaker 1
We’re told to memorize all this stuff, but we aren’t told or taught how to do that, how to be an entrepreneur, what it means, how to start your own business, how and everything that that takes in, at least at a college level. You know, even junior college. But I believe, you know, us thinking being taught better when we’re in, you know, primary school, elementary school or high school to really think outside of outside of the box how to really, you know, do critical thinking and come up with solutions and and develop those solutions and how to fail.
00:13:58:17 – 00:14:23:20
Speaker 1
And I think that’s something you have to come up on your own. But at the same time, we can’t fault the education system because it’s not prepared for that. Our education system, you know, and we don’t have necessarily teachers that know how to do that either because they weren’t taught how to do that. They were taught how to, you know, go from this book.
00:14:23:20 – 00:15:11:00
Speaker 1
And, you know, the answers are in the book. There aren’t any other ways for us to do that. here we are almost at the end. I love these hardback sketchbooks. They give such a permanence to the work. The paper is, you know, just regular drawing paper, nothing special. I get these that I think I got these from Dick Blick, where I get them from there Now, they usually have a 2 pack sale and they are wonderful because you get to put them on your shelf and it’s like, Hey, I’ve got this thing! Anyway, here we are at the end.
00:15:11:04 – 00:15:22:00
Speaker 1
Thank you for listening to me and I hope you enjoyed the flip through. I look forward to seeing you next time. Take care.
