First, thanks to everyone from various places that stopped to say a kind word after what happened last week. We’re putting together a mini-shrine for Grandpa and I’ll take a picture of it once we get more done with it.
I think one of the suspects of slowing down my drawing was my old, small lightbox. Dimming after about a decade of use, I’d have to wait until dark just to see through two pieces of paper. I’m one of those hacks who likes to sketch things small, make an enlarged copy of it and trace it onto another piece of paper. One thing that’s always bugged me is how I’d try to redraw something from a small sketch only to see all the energy get sucked out of the poses. When I overanalyze everything and try to make it look realistic, it ends up looking boring and lifeless. The sketches? The sketches are usually full of crazy and wonder and the fresh scent of a new idea. So lightboxing enlarged sketches keep the initial energy from that sketch.
That Final Fight picture that I did a little while ago is an example of that. Not perfect, but not as flat and boring.