More years ago than I care to recount (mainly because I have no idea) I acquired and subsequently lost my only USB cable. Every now and then when I need to transfer files from here to there I search for this minuscule MIA cable. Today marks my 93rd search, I’d say, but this sly cable still eludes me. I find this mildly infuriating. On my search and retrieve attempt this evening, though, I stumbled upon some stuff that (almost) makes up for the fact that what I actually set out to find still appears to be totally outside my grasp.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been drawing. Nothing in particular, just drawing. It’s just what I did. This particular creative drive is what led me to decide to earn my degree for graphic design (which had an ironic yet delightful conclusion that I won’t get into now, but it’s kind of awesome I swear). A lot of the stuff that I used to draw when I was a kid was lost, but teenage me hardly ever threw her drawings away (unless they sucked, if I’m being honest) so I still have a bunch. I kept them in my purple, plastic folder, in two categories: “Don’t like,” kept in one pocket, and “Damn I’m amazing at this” in the other (there really was no in between for me, now that I think about it). I also managed to hang on to a handful of the stuff I did on assignment for my various high school and college classes. I wish I had had the patience to actually make my work look as great as I thought it could be. But I still like some of the stuff that managed to tumble out of the tumult in my head and through my shaky hands. Here’s a handful of my inadvertent findings:
I don’t draw nearly as much as I used to. It’s kind of sad when I think about it. But every once in a great while I get some kind of idea that I’m able to see through. And sometimes, actually, I do get commisioned for something. Back in September I was asked to make an inspirational-type poster for a local school. I sketched it all out by hand first:
I’ve got this thing about sketching in my math notebooks for some reason… This is what I ended up with:
Closeup of the poster. The blond girl is my favorite of the chibis :)
It was a big hit. Can’t say I wasn’t a little pleased :)
And recently I was hired to make a few posters for some kids’ bedrooms. This is one of them:
A giraffe was requested for this one, so I first sketched it out on paper. (I did this right before bed one night and I’m blaming the horrendous sketch on the exhaustion I must have been suffering from.) A little tweaking in Photoshop the next day and things were much better. The next poster in the series is a couple of penguins. Hopefully I can work on that this weekend. (Penguins are so bodacious.)
I definitely don’t draw anywhere near as much as I used to, and not in the same way. One of the nasty side-effects of being an adult. Time was never an issue when I was younger; I never didn’t have enough of it. Wish that were the case these days. But I guess that’s the way it goes. Just trying to make the best of the time I do have. There are just so many awesome things out there to do. Sometimes I think that’s why I don’t spend a lot of extra time polishing my stuff; I always want to be off on my next creative idea :)
all images copyright Karissa Cole 2014 | contact
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