The beginning

I got into the Animation/Film industry because I loved to draw when I was growing up. I have hundreds of drawings that I saved from when I was a kid. I even have sketches that I drew on the backs of my parent's cheque books.

Somewhere along the way, between working in the Animation industry as a Surfacing artist and becoming a husband and father, I stopped sketching and producing art in my spare time. It has literally been years since I have sketched on a regular basis.I lost my desire to draw and paint. It was difficult to find the time and the energy.

I looked at my daily schedule and found some time where I could sketch. Part of my morning commute into the studio is on the GO train. For years I drove but traffic and construction pushed me to take the train. At first I was excited to have a place to sketch but it just ended up being my place to sleep or check my emails.

Luckily, I recently took that first step towards daily train sketches and so far so good.  It was like starting a fitness program though, I wanted to be "in shape" INSTANTLY but that didn't turn out to be the case.
There were a few false starts because I would just sit there staring at a blank page unable to decide on what to draw. Then, when I finally attempted a drawing I was horrified with the results. This in turn left me discouraged and feeling defeated.

So instead of trying to produce masterpieces from scratch after not doing any sketching for almost a decade, I decided to look at the works of modern masters and attempt to reproduce them. I figured this would help  prove to myself that I was technically capable of producing high quality work. The plan was that if I could do a good job reproducing art that I considered high end, I could then use what I learned from those studies to create my own works of art.

I chose to work in marker, Copic markers to be exact. A friend of mine and very talented artist, Joe Vriens, did Copic marker sketches for my kids at the Toronto Fan Expo in the summer of 2013 and I loved the results. They seemed like the perfect tool for my journey back into the world of sketching. I could have gone with simple pencil sketches but I wanted something that forced me to make decisions and stick with them. I wanted something that was very unforgiving. I didn't want to waste time erasing pencil lines that weren't quite right. The Copic markers allow me to produce variable line widths quickly and easily. They also come in a wide range of colours so I am not limited to gray scale and more importantly, they can't be erased. The markers are bloody expensive but I have been building up my collection bit by bit.

So here begins my journey, my quest to becoming a better artist. I am starting with baby steps but I plan to be flat out running in the not so distant future. Wish me luck .......