WIP Wednesday!

This episode is going to be titled, "A Piece of Home". It starts with the usual loose, crummy pencil sketch that gets the important parts down so that I can build on them.

 Getting some detail in. A friend of mine from my Army Reserve unit went to Boise State University to get a degree in Illustration. I asked him if he liked it and if it was worth it (I had been thinking of doing the same thing). He said he did like it and while he felt it was worth it, he also said I could save myself a lot of money and just cut right to the heart of the class...

 ...the "heart of the class" and the basic, core soul of getting a degree in Illustration was just, yup, you guessed, it, "Practice, practice, practice."

The most basic, boring advice that we all know is true but we keep looking for the magic shortcut button. All the class was, was an endless repertoire of things to practice, and someone telling you to practice and grading you on it if you didn't.

 I guess if you need a degree to prove something to an employer, then sure. Do the class. But if you already know what you want to do, already have a goal, and you just want to illustrate comics for yourself, then practice and save the money for things like printing books or going to conventions or whatnot.

 I have been practicing but I don't have the time to indulge in too much "idle practice" or "practice for practice's sake". My doodles sometimes hold that door open for me; but usually I don't have time to practice, get good, then produce. My product is the practice. Sometimes the product looks good, sometimes it is rushed and looks amateur.

I've mentioned before having to balance a regular full-time job, a part-time job, and then maintaining a healthy family life. And sometimes I just want to shut off for a bit and enjoy the sensation of doing nothing.

 In a couple of years, I will be able to retire. Full stop retire. From both jobs, if I want. I can keep my civilian job if I like but unless there are exigent circumstances that force me to do that, I will pull the ripcord. My wife and I have already discussed our plans for retirement-- a lot of people feel despondent after retirement because they no longer feel "productive". They don't have a Plan B.

I already know what I'm going to do. My wife says that she wants me to take at least 8 hours a day to feed my need to create and express and publish. And hopefully I can finally unblock the logjam of need and let the creativity (and some practice) flow like a river.

Until later!