Read, Watch, what...?

If you're new to this blog, welcome!  If you're digging through the archives to see what you've stumbled onto, congratulations on reaching the beginning!

Read, Watch, Draw is a blog I'm writing to document my journey from artistic novice to comic creator.

Who am I?

I'm just an average Joe with below average artistic abilities that grew up dreaming of drawing comics.  When I was little my dad would draw characters on those huge sketchpad sheets and hang them around my room.  So I was surrounded by images of the X-men, Popeye, Link, and whatever else he thought I was into at the time.  I thought if my dad could do this, maybe it was in my blood too.  After years of unproductive practice, I was thoroughly convinced that artistic ability is not blood related.

Fast forward to my mid-thirties.  I've read over and over again that the ability to draw is a skill not a talent.  It's something that literally anyone can train to do if they give it enough time and effort.  A big reason why I've picked up writing a blog is to test that theory out.  Even if it's only read by a handful of people, it will serve as motivator to keep me focused on my goals.

Why would you want to read this blog?

Why would you want to follow someone who has zero experience and no portfolio? Well, who's closer to where you're at in your artistic journey?  The pro that's published, who has over a decade of paid work under their belt, and rakes in over six figures through their Patreon subscription or just a normal guy that doodled when he was younger?  I'm also a great worst case scenario since I've never had academic training in the arts, I'm over 30 and I have family obligations that limit the time I can put into practicing.  Not exactly an ideal learning environment right?  If you see improvement throughout my blog then you should have no doubt that this is something anyone can accomplish.

I've set aside three years worth of milestones, broken up over three phases.  I'll write more about those in the next few posts.  The big thing for me is that by the end I will have uploaded over 468 posts and put a minimum of 1092 hours into practicing with pencils and breaking in my Wacom tablet.  As an engineer, I have an interest in the metrics behind the improvement I'm able to achieve.  So I will be tracking things like books completed, total run time on YouTube tutorials, and hours spent drawing further broken down by medium. Feel free to skip the summaries and skim through the sketch work if charts aren't your cup o' tea.