NateCreates.com

Since returning from Spain I’ve been absorbed in painting. I’ve kept the label painter despite having seriously painted only two or three times in the last ten years. However, with newfound inspiration, I slapped through a whole slew of painting styles in a couple of days, churning through a bunch of ideas I’d had in Spain, only to watch them collapse on canvas.

About the time I was ready to send my brushes through the canvas and permanently scratch painting from my resume, I was reminded of Matisse. He claimed to always look for the fundamental, reoccurring trends in his art, and paint to those fundamentals.

With that in mind, I returned to the style and ideas I enjoyed painting ten years ago. This new painting, “Creativity Leaves Me” came quickly, but I feel I’ve been painting it subconsciously for a number of years. When I look at the sketch I made, and the finished work I’m surprised it worked. This process (or lack of process) is probably why I prefer acrylics. Oil or watercolor would have required me to work out much more of the finished piece before starting, and probably killing the work at the same time.

I hope to have more paintings available soon, as well as prints.

People that know me know I’ve never been big into travel. Slowly I’ve been convinced to expand my physical borders - last year was my first trip to Europe - and now I’m headed back again, this time to Barcelona, Spain. Still, the prospect of wandering museums, shops and other tourist attractions never garners my enthusiasm. So it’s been six months since I agreed to join my wife for a college course in Spain, and all this time she’s been a bit irked that I’ve been less than enthusiastic.

That’s all changed. Now I’m anxious, edgy and can’t wait to write the first post of my new assignment…yes, that’s it…I’m excited to travel so I can write posts. The PNCA coordinator of the course asked my wife if we’d be interested in journaling our experience in Barcelona for the school. Of course she said yes. (Look for the first one on March 19.)

For the next few weeks I’ll be keeping two blogs going - one for the school, and one right here. The PNCA blog will feature all the fun stuff - places seen, people met, things done. This allows my own blog to offer up stuff my fellow designers and clients find interesting - for example how travel and place can inspire design.

Should be lots of fun.

Some artists are religious about their sketchbooks. I’ve never been that disciplined. I wish I had their dedication, because a sketchbook provides a snapshot not captured any other way. Just a few days ago, when I had the idea to keep a virtual sketchbook, I came across one of my few sketchbooks from 1998.

It’s a strange book. I drew the entire thing while working on the phone for a national bank. If you’re ever talking to a bank rep and it sounds like they are doing something else - well, they probably are. There are account numbers everywhere in the thing. So much for security. Stranger’s names. Addresses. All mixed in with bizarre doodles in ballpoint pen. Some pages are definite attempts to demonstrate skill, to solve how to render some facial feature. Other pages seem only to entertain the right brain while the left brain is telling an old lady why she’s charged $30 for every overdraft. Forget the fact her social security check doesn’t come in for another week. Ah yes, I still remember those days.

And then there’s my budget. I actually projected optimistically a net income of $105.

I seemed content with a $9.50 an hour job. There’s a list of expenses I could count on both hands, right next to an old man with a walnut in one eye, and tears streaming down every crease in his face.I planned on being an artist. My goal for April - complete a business plan. Nearly eight years later, I’m still working on the artist part. And my business plan is about as far along. I guess that’s what makes sketchbooks interesting. It’s less about what you thought you were including, and more how your life was at a specific point in time, how it manages to become conjoined with the doodles and drawings put down thoughtlessly on the page. While I’ve included a couple of pages don’t worry - all account numbers are gone.

Yesterday the news of Dave Cockrum’s death made minor headlines. I’m new to the field of comic book illustrators and writers and his name wasn’t familiar. I’m sure I’ve flipped through the pages of old X-Men comics and admired his work. And just recently I had the chance to watch X-Men: The Last Stand, a fun, entertaining film, and better than I expected. However, what captivated me most about Dave’s story concerned the sad news that his creativity and imagination, while bringing millions of dollars to a Marvel, basically left him with little to retire on, no medical benefits and little recognition for his contribution to one of the longest running comic franchises. Because he worked for hire, he relinquished any rights to royalties, or control of the copyright of his work.

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…take one down. Complete graphic novel in 2007. Only 99 left.

Yeah, I’m sure I’m not the only one, but in some ways there’s a certain fear of completing items on a list called “100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die.” Life finds new perspective when creating such a list. And I can’t even get past 45. Only 45 things I want to do…geez. Enough rambling though. I’m seriously pursuing removing one item that been there for many years - writing and illustrating a graphic novel.

A few weeks ago I started. I worked through an old manuscript I’d had sitting in a box. Managed to write a page and go through the process of researching imagery, drawing the pencils, penning the inks, scanning and coloring, and finally laying on the type. The rewriting the type. I finished a page. In approximately 20 hours. In that amount of time I’d probably finish this thing in ten years. So I’m ditching the full color and going to pursue black and white only. I’m currently in awe of Bernie Wrightson’s pen & ink work, and I find it inspiring.

So this post really is a kick-off post. I’m seriously going to be writing next year around this time with only 44 things on my 100 list to do. In the meantime, check back regularly. I’ll be cataloguing my progress. Sharing tips, thoughts, ideas. And posting updates. Looking for feedback. And if anyone out there is pursuing a similar goal, let me know. I’d be glad to provide mutual support.

What I’m about to say will appear to go directly against my last post — and I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t agree fully with my last post. However after much thinking (ten minutes in the shower, and over fifteen years of mindless self argument), I’m officially posing the question: Can a single artist use many styles successfully? 

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