I have an unfortunate tendency to abandon works of art, as I’m creating them, if they start going off track. I’m working on not doing that, but it’s built-in that if it starts looking like the piece won’t work as planned, I just give up and go do something else.

It’s something that only applies to art, whereas with the rest of my life I tend to see the problem and deal with it, working around it as I can. I’m trying to fix it when I do art, and the ink card I finished last night (the second one) is a good example of it.

I’m trying to work on the idea that with art I can just let go. Certainly, there are things that have to look a certain way, especially when dealing with a specific character. But I’m learning that if it starts going wrong, let it.

That’s not very easy to do.

But, I’m learning. I don’t think I’ll grow as an artist unless I learn to adapt as I go, to accept that the art wants to look a certain way. No matter how much I fight the piece, I just need to relax and let it happen.

The new ink card below is a perfect example of that. I had a grandiose idea in mind, something that had to look an exact way. Almost from the beginning it was heading off track. Not terribly, but enough that I knew it wasn’t working.

So I stepped back from the table, said a bad word or two (Hogswallop! Balderdash!), sat back down and purposely inked over a part that I was going to finesse in a shadow. I kept going, letting it out, and before too long I had a different piece. Possibly even a better one.

Here it is, it’s 5″ x 7″, ink on 140 lb. Cold Press like the others. It’s called An Old Fight. Opinions always welcome.


Russell Dickerson

Russell Dickerson has been a lot of things over many years. Author, artist, designer, winner of awards and recognition, pursuer of the truth, leader of the earth after armageddon.

2 Comments

Byron · November 3, 2010 at 9:16 pm

glad to hear that you are letting go. its something that i do naturally and only when i try to do it ‘right’ is when i freeze up. I also find working in pen only helps because if you make a mistake you have to deal with it.

The image looks awesome, the eyes have it for me

admin · November 3, 2010 at 10:24 pm

Thanks man! I’m about to post the next one that’s a little closer to my original thought (though not the same idea really).

Pen and ink definitely makes you do it right, or find a way to fix what’s messed up. I’m enjoying getting back to it.

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