On Thursday, I promised you the project I’ve been working on for nine months. Before the pictures, I’ll tell how it came about, and why I’m not crazy.
After showing Mr. Tobin my sketchbook, I was so impressed and humbled that I wanted to do something for him. It seemed silly to go back to the well for a third time, but being poor, all I can barter with is my art. So I asked for another suggestion. He said, “Wolverine losing a fight against a petting zoo”.
Guys. GUYS. Animals are my jam, so this was something I was very pumped about. I immediately got to sketching. Excitedly worked on ideas for days. And then….nothing worked. Every once in awhile this happens. The request is so off the wall or so difficult or so intricate, that there’s no easy way to approach it. Since animals are something that I can do well, and a petting zoo can be a very big operation…I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to fully sketch an animal because it was hidden behind three others biting Wolverine.
One of my guiding rules when picking how to work on a request is just to go with my gut. After half a week of sketching, the only thing that made sense was to make an alphabet book. I knew it was a stupid amount of work, but it’s what made sense. I pursued it, not really thinking that I’d get to the end, but it’d be fun to give it a go.
Since it happened that I was in school at the time, this was actually the perfect project. I’d go to work, study right after, fail a test, and come home. Even though there would sometimes still be time between me and bedtime, I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about drawing. However, I could think about Wolverine fighting an animal. That’s simple. So I’d work on that.
Even though I didn’t think I’d actually do it – it’s done. A very, very, weird feeling.
Without further ado, here it is guys! It’ll take 8 or so posts to put them all in, but may I present the Wolverine ABCs:
For the observant Philadelphians, this is the rabbit enclosure right out of our Zoo. Since I didn’t think about many of the animals before I sat down to draw them, this was the first time I understood that no matter how silly the idea, I was going to draw it. Even if it meant drawing a crazy amount of animals.
And then ‘C’ happened. Oh my gosh. There’s over 100, but I always lose count. For animals that really can’t hurt comics’ fiercest Canadian, I had to think of ways that he could still ‘lose’ to them. For chicks, smothering en masse was the only thing that was deemed possible.
Thanks for stopping!