Next try

So my attempt yesterday ended up like this:

I am greatly displeased with this. I’m putting it on the blog as an effort
towards artistic transparency – even basic works of art are often revised and redone completely. Also, I wanted to show that I don’t always just chuck ideas that aren’t working, I also try to finish ideas to see if I can learn something from the effort – in this case I learned a little more about using markers (better ventilation, also using like you’re cell shading).
Personally, a good 90% of my work is tests, experiments, half-baked ideas that I play with, revisions, reworking and totally starting again. I don’t think I am alone in this, judging from the similar sentiments I have heard from other artists. For me, a sketchbook is often a graveyard of dead and aborted ideas that never quite became something, as well as a hardcopy record of old spare parts of ideas that I can recycle. It’s why I don’t throw away used up sketchbooks – if I get stuck for ideas I can mine my offcuts and old parts for the germ of an idea, and rework it with my since-improved skills.
Anyway, this morning I am starting again, with a fresh page and some pencils – the old-fashioned way. Here’s what I have already:

Semi traditional Dragon Face in progress

Like I say to my dog quite often, “I always come back”.

Sometimes I leave you for a little while , but I always come back. So it is with blogging.

Today I am drawing the initial phases of a Pseudo-Japanese Traditional dragon, and I thought you might like to see what I’m up to as I do it, so the next few posts will be the process of doing the rough work.