Early Delving (Thesis Prep Post)

The influences of my childhood are fairly obvious in my current work.  Seriously, I draw comics.  I first started getting really into drawing because I watched Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon on TV as a kid and thought it would be so cool to turn myself and my friends into characters like that.  Some of my earliest memories are of getting yelled at in school for drawing under my desk instead of paying attention in school, and on at least one occasion, my drawing was taken, ripped up and thrown out then and there.  I kept at it though, because when I showed my drawings to my friends who had helped me come up with these characters and ideas, they were always thrilled, and immediately we would be planning the next moment or adventure. 
Well, the more things change, the more the stay the same, as they say.  Here's a little confession for those of you who maybe don't know me as well (and maybe this won't come as too much of a surprise): my friends and I play Dungeons and Dragons.  Which of course means that, to this day, we are creating characters and telling stories together, constantly seeing how personalities interact, and working on creative solutions to fantastical problems.  My favorite projects now are those which involve drawing characters and moments conceived of by my friends and brought to life on paper or screen.

Well, I suppose I'll leave it at that before I really start rambling.  One more item, perhaps, before signing off for tonight:

This is a sheet of scrap paper I used to mix paints on last semester when I worked on a painting for a friend of mine.  It was the most passionate I had been about an art piece in years, and all of the eagerness for a friend's excited reaction came rushing back, just like as a kid drawing under my desk.  Now, I keep this tacked up in my room, because I want art to always feel like that, and it reminds me of why I decided to take a crack at making art to begin with.  I just hope that I can incorporate that kind of passion into more "gallery" type work in the future.