childhood artwork

[David Hamilton]

Calling all artistic types here in the forums!!

While killing time here at my day job, I started thinking about my artwork and how it has evolved over time. I am somewhat of a packrat when it comes to artwork. I still have things that I have drawn dating back to when I was around eight or so.

Surprisingly, I will often browse through some of those old drawings, and actually remember where I was trying to go with the piece, but didn't have the technical skill to pull it off at the time. Sometimes I have even started a new piece that was inspired by something I did LONG, LONG ago.

Then it hit me:

What about these other amazing artists that I have so recently become aquainted with (in a cyber sort of way), after seeing so much of their excellent work previously?..

Would anybody else be willing, or able, to share some of their earliest artwork? I'm not talking about earliest professional work. No, no. I mean something like my first drawings on notebook paper from grade school, and high school art classes, and that sort of thing.

I think it would be a hoot. We see some really awesome stuff here from guys like Storn and Eric L. and a lot of others. Ever wonder what they started out doing with crayons?

I promise that I won't leave you hanging, and I will post some of my young stuff as soon as I get home from work. *Secretly intending to see how incredibly talented all the other folks were as kids before posting his own crude scribblings .*

I hope to see some stuff soon!

David

[Storn]

I am not a packrat. I don't have much artwork from 6 years ago, much less my childhood. There is some stuff around at my Mom's...but she is a few hundred miles away.

I'm afraid that you aren't going to see anything from me in that regard. I just simply don't have it. I would be more than willing to post it up if I had it...but I don't.

I guess that is something that has happened for a couple of reasons... I've always lived in really small apartments. And my mom is also an artist. Wall space in my childhood home is at a premium.

[David Hamilton]

Just so there are no hard feelings, ;) !!

Any writers out there should post links to some of their early work. That sounds like fun, too!!

David

[Eric Lofgren]

David, that's a pretty good idea. It may take some time (mostly to build up nerve) to find something. I too am a packrat, so I'm sure I have something kicking around....heh heh *actually I'm going to wait and see if someone else has the nads to post first and then I'm going*...Huh? Did I say that out loud...never mind, I'll go look now....

Eric

[Noel Murphy]

To start the ball rolling...here is something I did when I was about 17-18? From my old Champs days. It's about 3" square done with biro and watercolours. You may recognise I reprised it sometime later.
I'll see if I can find anything else. Come on, get 'em out.:p

[chriss2d]

That's a very cool idea.
It's too bad Storn can't play. I would've liked to have seen that. I don't have many things from early childhood, but I can find some stuff from my high school days. I'll try to dig some stuff out.

[David Hamilton]

You all realize, of course, that this is simply a ploy on my part to distract you all from your current (excellent) work, and to give me time to hone my own meager skills in the hopes of one day surpassing you all!!!!


AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH:D !!!



......post away!!!



Mine will be up soon!

David

[chriss2d]

Ok, this is a character design for an rpg, but I can't remember which one. I was about 14 when I did this. At the time, I never thought I might actually be drawing for rpgs for a living. Pretty wild. Feast your eyes!

[David Hamilton]

Originally posted by chriss2d
That's a very cool idea.
It's too bad Storn can't play. I would've liked to have seen that. .

Me,too.

But something tells me that Storn was never a child. I suspect he is some sort of alien creature in disguise that has drained the artistic talent from the old masters and now is RUINING it for the rest of us....:D


Paranoid David

[David Hamilton]

This one is from my early D&D days.

Now, we get to the things I mentioned in my first post. I've had some more time to think about it since I first mentioned the idea.

Take a look at this sketch. It's done in ebony pencil. It probably took me a couple of days to finish. Now, granted, it's a little off, but my point is, I haven't had that much patience with a pencil in a LONG time. At the time I drew this, EVERYTHING I did was in pencil. I was literally AFRAID to try to ink something, or , God forbid, try to PAINT something. Nowadays, I'm almost the exact opposite. My pencil sketches are quick and rough, and while I feel that my drawing skills have improved, I don't have the patience to sit and finish something like this anymore...:confused:

Any thoughts/suggestions/comfort?...

anyway....feel free to tear into it!!


David

[chriss2d]

Man, I love these pictures! David, you didn't say how old you actually were when you did this. I still love it. Our work was so innocent back in the old days. We never put alot of thought into anything. The goal was just to avoid screwing up and to actually finish the picture. Looking through my old stuff, I realized that I hardly ever finished anything. I hope others will join in on the fun

[David Hamilton]

I didn't date my work very often back then..

But I think I was around 15 or 16 when I did this one.


Thanks for checking it out. Yeah, I really miss the good ole days of drawing without pressure and someone breathing down your neck about it, whether it is a teacher or an art director. Although, truth be told, I wouldn't mind having a few paying gigs right about now with art directors hounding me.


David

[Matt Drake]

I drew this when I was in the Navy about six years ago. For some reason I keep it in my wallet. Sadly, I haven't gotten much better. Which is why I hire artists instead of doing the work myself.

Matt Drake
www.spectrepress.com

[Holy Bear]

Alrighty, this is from when I was 16...
Oldest drawing I have at home. :)

Sadly, My drawing skills were better then than they are now. :(

Oh well.

[David Hamilton]

I'm really diggin' all this old stuff. Thanks for humoring me, everybody. Keep posting if ya want!!

...what....no writers?.....


:confused:

David

[chriss2d]

To Holy Bear, I think it's safe to assume you too were a Jim Lee fan. I love Jim Lee's work. Being a long time comic fan, I wanted to BE Jim Lee for a long time.
You say your drawing skills have deminished over the years. Did you stop drawing or are you the only artist who gets worse with age. If you stopped, that's a shame because I see alot of potential in this 16 year old.
I couldn't draw nearly this well when I was 16. You should be blowing us all away with new work right now.
Just curious to know what happened.

[Holy Bear]

Well chris, I am ashamed to say that yes, I did stop drawing for far too long. In a sense, I've only just dared to pick up the pencil again.

The reason was that I got stuck in the same ways of drawing cool comicbook characters, until, well, it didn't seem so cool anymore. Now that should have been the time where I said to myself "well dammit 'bjørn, time to break through this pattern you're stuck in!". However it was also the moment I started Med school, which took quite a bit of my time.

Regrettably, I then stopped doing much drawing...and everytime I pick up a pencil I kinda tense up.

God, I'm sounding like a tear-jerker movie. *LOL* :rolleyes:

Anyway, I very much appreciate the kind words. Maybe it'll help me try to draw something again.

And YES I absolutely LOVED (no not THAT way you perverts! :D ) Jim Lee. Got to meet the man twice (even though I'm from Holland) and had a hell of a time. Only bad thing about it was that he kept pronouncing my name (Asbjørn) as Ass-burn...*chuckles* That was weird. But in many ways, he was the master that I looked up to and wanted to become.
Cool to see a fellow fan.

Now go draw one of your great pieces for me to enjoy!

Cheers,

Asbjørn

[chriss2d]

Hey Holy Bear,

Man I wish I could hang with the Jimster. I saw the top of his head one time at a convention. This was when the Image thing had just started and he was incredibly popular. I bought a page of his artwork from the Divine Right comic not too long ago and I was blown away. Not just his work, but the ink work of Scott Williams made me want to cry.
Anyway, I greatly encourage you to pick that pencil up and stare down the blank piece of paper. Don't let it intimidate you. You own that paper. That pencil is at your mercy. Take a deep breath and dive in. You might surprise yourself.
Chris

[Holy Bear]

You're absolutely right Chris.

GERONIMO!

*takes a deep breath...should atleast give it a try again*

[Stormprince]

I'm a writer, but I have a few sketches I did way back when posted on one of my old websites... so, if you're feeling particularly brave, here they are:

http://www.geocities.com/greymalken/Charcoal.htm

Most of them were done when I was 18 or so... unfortunately, as Holy Bear said, I was better when I was a teenager, but I don't have any of those sketches anymore :(

Old Sketches (http://www.geocities.com/greymalken/Charcoal.htm) - Note, the images are all on one page, so it could take a few moments to load *chuckles* It was my first website! It was 1998! And T.W.Storm was a lame attempt at a pen-name that I soon gave up ;)

[RpmQ]

Well, admittedly I don't do much rpg art.. But played alot when I was younger. I am now getting back into it again. ALot has changed.

I am a self employed graphic artist and enjoy reading this forum. I saw this topic and thought I'd jump in. When i was 30, my father gave me a unique christmas gift. It was 2 drawings I had done when I was about 10. They were both of some racecars. He lived in Indianapolis (Where we both now reside) and I had done the drawing from some pictures we took during a visit to the speedway.
Here is a rough photo of the drawing (Sorry, didn't want to spend time taking it out of the frame to scan it properly)
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rpmq/gordonsmiley.jpg

Now the odd thing is, I never really was a 'Gearhead'. But somehow, after dropping out of college (Pratt Institute) due to financial reasons, I wound up working for various sign shops, eventually landing myself a descent position at a shop here in Indy doing alot of Race and commercial work. After 7 years there, I went out on my own and continue to do alot of graphic design and technical illustration for the race and commercial industries.
This is the type of stuff I do now...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rpmq/cheever2002.jpg

It's a 'presentation' piece used for sponsorship proposals, and can be easily manipulated for any other race teams. Not exactly my best work, but I thought it was so strange that here I am 20+ years later doing the same thing...

Needless to say, Dad really made my day with that gift!
-r

PS who knows... Steve Jackson may see this and decide to have me do illustration for car wars?! lol