SKETCHBOOK #1, page 10

This is kind of a funny-weird transistional drawing, the more I think about it. Between the age of somewhere around 11 or 12 until 14 or 15 I was really into comic books. I collected them like crazy, read several titles religiously, went to conventions, tracked the values in price guides, etc. It was before I or anyone I knew had a car, so whenever we could talk one of our parents into it, a trip to the comic book store was a weekend highlight.

I created my own characters, too, and for a while, I was actually really serious about pursuing a career as a comic artist. Reading and drawing were always my favorite hobbies, and I think that this was probably my first real realization that a person can combine visual and literary art into a cohesive statement. This sort of synthesis of media is what I love, and it's why I eventually decided to go into filmmaking. It's interesting (but makes total sense) for me to consider that my first taste of the appeal of visual storytelling was in comics.

Anyway - one of the reasons that these early sketchbooks of mine are so interesting to me is that they were made during such an artistically transitional time for me. I was going from being really into comic art - where realism, detail, and dynamics were the ideal - to becoming more and more interested in art "ideas," expressionism in line, unusual subject matter, geometry, absurdity, distortion, and so on. Basically, I was beginning to discover artists who I had never heard of who were extremely fascinating and influential on me. I was developing my own style, and I was quickly losing interest in drawing superheroes.

When I look at this drawing, I can totally see the comic style that I had been working on for a while. It's obvious that I was moving away from it, but it's there. It's also kind of funny to me that I was getting into figure drawing, which I had always gravitated towards, but I was sort of just starting to deal with the problem of drawing figures without superhero costumes... so I had no idea whether I should draw the dude's junk or not. I remember it being a perplexing dilemma. I guess this is one way to solve it... but don't worry, there's plenty of nudity in future updates.