I have a studio with a drafting table, drawing lamp and everything I would need, but it seems inspiration strikes me best when I am sitting on a couch with a sketchbook in my lap while trash streams on my Roku box in the background.
I continue to flesh out the story of the Teenage Beast or The Goo Goo Muck which is sort of a punk version of I Was a Teenage Werewolf. I first started to kick around this idea in the mid-1980s. I think my initial approach to the story like a lot of my art at the time was somewhat half-hearted and tentative. I would be all fired up over an idea one day, and then completely lose my enthusiasm for it the next. Drawings which seemed like good ideas at the time sat unfinished for decades. Stories never went anywhere beyond scribbled notes in some notebooks. I’m not sure if it was a lack of confidence in my ability or not being able to transfer the image in my head down on the paper. I don’t know what I was waiting for because I was a young man with few responsibilities and all of the time in the world. Now almost 40 years later I am regularly and happily filling sketchbook pages edge to edge with inked drawings based on these old ideas.
I am currently working on a Canson XL Mixed Media pad that measures 7 inches by 10 inches. I pencil in a sketch and then start inking it in with my Sailor Fude De Mannen fountain pen which I love. I also use Pigma Micron pens, a Pentel brush pen and whatever else I have close at hand that has black ink in it.
I am working backwards from the story’s climax. In these drawings, The Teenage Beast which is sort of a shapeshifter like a werewolf is turning into his final demonic form. He’s pursuing the female protagonist through the woods. I’ll have to figure out how they get out into the woods and why, but it’s not really all that important just now. Trust me, it will end in the woods with screaming and running and The Teenage Beast going into full beast mode.
As I said before I am working my way through the story in reverse. On the heels of the drawing at the top of this post with my monster closing in on the supine girl, I penciled and inked a scene that may occur about halfway through the story. It is set during the early to mid-1980s so it takes place in a punk club. This is where my Jekyll takes on some of the aspects of Hyde.
Actually, I drew the two characters first and then I added a few hints of a background. I didn’t really plan it out, but I just started drawing and inking. The scene and a direction of the story emerged from the page.
I’ll continue with these drawings as I figure out a story and a look for the characters. I am enjoying it, and it’s how I close out these cold, wintry evenings with a sketchbook on my lap, sitting on a couch with a cat and a spouse while something I can half ignore streams on the television.
Speaking of which, I promised myself that I would write what I was watching on the backs of these drawings while I was drawing them. I didn’t bother, but if I had to scrape my memory, I could come up with a partial list.
- Columbo episodes. My wife finds them tedious as Peter Falk plays an apparent dimwit who ultimately outwits the murderer, but I find them to be like comfort food. They don’t require my strict attention which is perfect for drawing. It was also a great repository for celebrities either on the uptick or on the way out. There was a terrific episode with Mr Spock, Honey West and Grandpa Walton all plotting against one another.
- True crime shows. I’m not sure which ones I watched as they all blend together. Criminals are stupid. Not a single Professor Moriarity in the bunch.
- Universal Horror Channel. I would watch this channel all of the time in that they show Universal’s horror classics and many sub-classics that are perfectly enjoyable. Sadly, the channel has made the disastrous decision to air non-stop episodes of The Munsters from just before prime time to well into the night. I watched the show as a kid, but lost interest when I realized it was always the same joke — the monsters think they are normal folks. This would probably be my default channel to turn to if it weren’t for the endless Munsters marathons.
On the third drawing I did write down what I watched on the back of the drawing. I started it late on a Saturday night and finished it up on Sunday.
- Inconceivable (2017) This is like one of those Lifetime movies about a wealthy suburban family disrupted by a psychotic nanny. This was a little different in that it had an unlikely cast featuring Nicolas Cage, Gina Gershon and Faye Dunaway. It’s okay if you’re working on a drawing or some other project.
- Loophole (1954) Film noir/caper film where a bank employee played by Barry Sullivan gets accused of stealing $50,000. Gravel voiced actor Charles McGraw plays an insurance investigator convinced of Sullivan’s guilt and goes about ruining his life. This one I’ll have to watch again and pay it better attention.
- Scamanda (podcast) Good God, this was my first true crime podcast that I have listened to, and it felt like eating a bag of potato chips for all three meals in one day. The chips tasted pretty good at the time, but it would come with regrets. This is another in a sad, real life, sub-genre of despicable women faking cancer. Like the large bag of potato chips, it was not satisfying. I did get a lot of drawing done while listening.
This may result in a separate category where I list some of the things I’ve watched that are worth chasing down. I spend more time searching for something to watch rather than watching something. This could be a helpful advice column if your tastes are as oddball as mine are or as an archive of how much crap I watch.
