Dragons are 60% Alcohol

i have maniacal hair and a sort of frantic look on my face-- which isn't particularly abnormal for me-- but it feels so much more merited right now. i'm that crazy artist who works at home, trying to capture it. talking to me is near useless because my brain is doing flips inside, hoping to perfect this dragon.

"how's it going? have you found a new job?"

"haven't been looking. dragons, though. i'm drawing dragons. cartoon ones. he has this personality-- i'm going to get that personality-- there are comedians and this dragon. it's awesome, but i'm not there yet."

"welllllp, good luck with that. see ya around."

"mm."

if you like talking about cartoon condescending dragons in severely fractured sentences, maybe you would enjoy my company about now. i'm like an eight year-old on a sugar-high, trying to explain the overall plot of inception.

this is my first experience drawing for money-- working as a contracted illustrator-- and it's a wild ride. the deadlines are not as scary as they are helpful, but they certainly add to the sport. the real adventure of it all is growing to read minds, while trying not to lose my own (what's left of it anyway.)

the guy i'm working for is rad: he knows how to communicate the way i need him to and while he's a marketing man, he's thankfully laid back and hilarious.

ultimately, he has an image in his head-- i'm assuming a pretty distinct one at that-- and he can't squeeze it out of his brain, down his arm, and through a ball-point. that's where i come in. my job is to grab whatever it is in his head and squeeze it out my own pen.

it's less dirty than it sounds.

he's also irish, which means i'm totally allowed to make fun of the english when he's around. and that's nice.

but let me tell you it is, by no means, a one-shot deal. when you draw for free, people take your first drawing and love it no matter what. but today, i've drawn four different renditions of the dragon-- getting closer each time-- and still not quite there. it's really fun, to be honest, trying to get in this guy's head.

also, receiving emails with likes and dislikes that include great quotes like, "The picture I can't get out of my mind is the fat kid at the school nativity play dressed as an angel. The wings are clearly too small to allow him to fly..."

i could really enjoy doing this more often. it's a sensual combination of two wonderful things: cartooning and solving a puzzle-- it's sort of like steak-flavored toothpaste.