John Martz

I have spent the last few days drawing dozens of these little doodles and characters, with the intention of using them for a project. Only now that I’ve drawn them, I’ve realized how wrong they are for what I’m doing. So I’ve decided to scrap all that work and start over.

In a fit of frustration last night, I started sketching a new idea, which is not only stronger, but also seemed to form out of thin air. It didn’t, of course. I wouldn’t have been able to have that fifteen minutes of pure inspiration if I didn’t first endure those two full days of going down the wrong path.

It’s why you should never find yourself having not drawn anything for longer than a day. When you’re not drawing, you fill up with bad drawings, and it takes longer to get them out of your system. Your drawing hand is like the shark that needs to keep moving so that it doesn’t die.

I discovered this little comic strip in an old sketchbook today. Clearly I had meant to redraw it at some point, but in retrospect I think it looks fine as is. If you can forgive the abysmal handwriting.

Reposted from the old blog for posterity, this magazine illustration depicts items sold in a small town convenience store.