Well! I’ve got this site set up and running, for the most part, so now I sit and wait for the interviewees to roll in. Animal Crossing isn’t out for another day, so I thought I’d take a moment to throw in some content. Scribble in the first page of the new sketchbook, if you will.
So the first piece of art we’ll discuss is the header you see above you! I wanted to capture the vibe of my own childhood: drawing in the margins of everything ever (sorry, teachers), personalizing notebooks in increasingly silly ways (shoutout to Gale’s Anime Notebook Of Doom, circa 2002), and being generally unafraid to wear my dweeby little heart on my sleeve.
Let me tell you, it’s surprisingly difficult to draw how I used to. There’s something really charming about the drawings you see from younger or newer fans. The lines veer boldly and confidently into surprising places. Characters are energetic, dramatic, imbued with deep backstory and mystery. And the jokes! The jokes!
What I’m saying is, as much as I enjoy goofing around, I genuinely love looking at my old stuff. There are a lot of fond memories and, honestly, really good ideas there. Some really bad ones, too, but I love them just the same. They helped me get to here.