Doodle 182 - Halfway Through The Forest

182 days. It sounds like an odd figure, and I guess it is.

I haven't really counted exactly how many doodles I have created yet, I haven't even tried to average it (if you feel so inclined to figure out how many I have done since the beginning of this project, you can come back with an answer though lol), but I am venturing to say it is around the 300-ish mark.

Over the past few months I have felt tired, out of ideas, sad, even depressed at times, but I have never felt like I could let a day go by without at least putting something down on paper, no matter how small and silly, before turning in for the night.

It hasn't been easy sometimes, traveling, drawing in the car in the middle of the night, while trying to scarf down lunch or dinner, after particular trying days at the office working long hours, or when I was feeling so sick I could barely flop sideways in bed to try and grab my sketchbook.

I probably will still have many days like that ahead, (hopefully not sick days, because I am sick of those darned sick days), but through them a combo of my pig headed nature and your encouragement have helped me keep on at it.

Skill-wise I can feel my abilities return ever so slowly, I can feel my imagination wanting to take larger leaps and my ability to visualize things get a little better with time.

I still need to work on my male drawings; females and animals are always so much easier and fluid to draw for me, but I don't want to limit myself and become a one trick pony, I want to push myself to be as comfortable with male figures as I am with females.

I also need to work on simplifying my characters, being able to reduce them to their essence.

I need to start inking drawings and coloring them in more often than not.

Still, I am very happy I started walking down this path again. I was able to remember how happy I felt when I wanted to draw and could make the lines obey and become what I wanted.

I find myself having to peel myself away from my desk at later and later hours at night when I finally hit my stride and loose myself in the doodles.

It has been a very long time, a very long road, but I am optimistic and I have to thank all of you for that.

Thank you for sticking with me so far. Thanks for your comments, e-mails, notes, tweets, tumblr messages.

Thanks for believing in me more than I did myself sometimes.

Just... Thank you.

Traveler - blue mechanical pencil on plain sketchbook. Aprox 15 mins.

Djinn - blue mechanical pencil in plain sketchbook. Aprox 20 mins.

Guard - blue and mechanical pencil in plain sketchbook. Aprox 15 mins.