Cleaning Up the Roughs

I scanned these doodles before tossing them in the dumpster because they reveal the evolutionary process of my artwork. Specifically, they reveal that, for each and every illustration I create, my work evolves from the level of a pre-kindergarten ignoramus all the way through my decades of supposed artistic development. The first preliminary scrawl for any drawing I do today looks identical to what I might have drawn as an infant. Then I slowly remind myself of the expensive art school and other art training I've had, like the amnesiac who starts to recall the wife, kids and jailhouse lover he left behind.

Regardless of how many times I go through this, it always starts the same: I completely forget that I know how to draw until moving the pen around reminds me. It's exhausting and embarrassing, and it makes people sorry they asked to look at my sketchbook.

But look! A little digital magic to polish up the finished piece and no one's the wiser! It's like I knew what I was doing all along!

Read the true-life tale of horror that inspired this illo here.