The Early Years

Part of my scanning excitement (or what is now being called as THE GREAT EXCAVATION OF 2008) is going through all my old books of drawings that I still have from when I was a kid. Some of them are just plain EMBARRASSING, others I am considering stashing away in my "In case I need to Plead INSANITY" file.

I have no idea where exactly my dad's wife Jody worked when I was growing up, but she was always able to provide these bound books made at the office, and it's thanks to her that so many of my drawings are still in tact. I poured over illustrator and comic book artist books where they showed them at work in sketchbooks or in studios--at age 9 I was already interested in the process of art. I fancied my drawing books like a series of books that would comprise my own "WORK." That's why I named my books and put titles and bylines on them. From Drawing Book #1, I give you the beginnings of one of my EARLIEST forays into dramatic fiction, "A New Kid in School":

Yes, that's right, I STILL haven't learned to spell, but at 9 I was already familiar with the high drama a cute boy can create when he shows up to a new school. I was already boy crazy, and I actively WORKED THIS OUT through my "stories" and my Barbie doll afternoons. As it happens, this story STARS Barbie--I was trying to get down on paper the conflicts and stresses that I impressed upon my harem of Barbie Dolls and one Ken. Actually, those stories usually had to deal with DIVORCES and trying to get the vain and pretty Barbie to think of others, like the smart and shy Malibu Barbie. This story is influenced by Sweet Valley High, as is displayed with this dramatic scene between Barbie and her teacher:

I actually didn't even know that EDITH HEAD existed, but you'd never know that from the depiction of the teacher.

In later years, I worked out my relationship issues with an obsession of all things Elfquest. I poured over the fantasy graphic novels of Wendy and Richard Pini as if they were a sacred tome of all things wonderful and artistic. My best friends Tonya and Lisa and I (thanks to the book binding abilities of Jody) made our own books of Elves and their tribes.

This would last for another THREE YEARS and I would end up making nearly FIVE Elf Books filled with characters and relationships and story lines. As I looked through them tonight one everlasting thing continued through my drawings of elves: cleavage. All the female elves were not only STACKED but they happened to have PUSH UP BRAS. I don't know if you can blame me--this was my inspiration. By the way, I don't know if you noticed, but this drawing is "small because it's from a faraway ANGLE." Just in case you were confused. 25 years later, I know I can see why I would need to explain it.