After adding "Warriors On Their Couches" to my gallery, I have a frustration I have to get off my chest, and I wonder if I'm alone in this among artists. Whenever I do a fully rendered pen and ink drawing, I like to do what I call a Line Study to work out the best way to render the piece. This sketch (or sketches) is smaller than the final, and is done kind of quickly to explore what line directions or hatching methods give me the the best results for different parts of the illustration. Painters will also do some sort of Color Study for the exact same reasons, just with color instead of black and white line work.

Here's my gripe: Inevitably, there are a few minor parts of the study sketch that I find superior to what I've done in the final piece. Why, oh why does this always happen?!! Is it that the final piece is too methodically done -- that there's too much care used on the final product? So while casually and quickly throwing down line work creates a lot of garbage that can inform us for the final, it can also create some absolute magic that cannot be recreated in a more controlled, careful way. I've noticed the same thing over the years when throwing down a little thumbnail for an action pose of some kind. The tiny stick figure I sketch on the page almost always looks more dynamic than the full size final piece that's based on it. There just seems to be a life and energy to the rough exploration of a concept that simply cannot be recaptured later.

So like with many of my illustrations, no matter how much I like "Warriors On Their Couches", there is a little part of me that feels disappointed in myself, knowing that I've done at least a part of it better before. And maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I always hold on those study sketches as a reminder of what I wish could have been, or perhaps as inspiration for improving. It feels good to vent.

-Chachi

** I am always available for commissions. Drop me a line and let's figure something out!**