I drew a lot as a kid. I was cool for one week in sixth grade when I revealed that I could copy pretty good renditions of Simba and Nala from The Lion King. I think all kids think of themselves as artistic.
I was artistic in high school. I took extra art electives, to the point of even building up a portfolio. I was editor of the school's literary magazine and wrote flurries of bad poetry and even worse short stories.
I was artistic in college. I still sketched occasionally for fun and took classes in photography, jewelry making and pottery. I still wrote (slightly better) poetry and made the occasional attempt at starting a novel.
And then what happened? I guess the easy answer is that I grew up and ran out of time for that sort of stuff, but that is lame. Totally lame. It wasn't a sudden thing. It tapered off slowly until one day I realized that I hadn't cracked a sketch book in years, my set of paints has completely dried up, and my ideas for writing stay totally in my head.
In a sad way, this is normal. In high school and college, I knew so many people that I would consider artistic. Poets, artists, musicians, playwrights, and more. Now, out of all of my current friends and acquaintances, there are maybe three I would consider artistic.
On the other hand, I feel like I know a lot of creative people. As an adult, I mostly see creativity express itself in three ways. 1) Unique business or entrepreneur-type ideas 2) A creative job, in marketing or design, but still a job or 3) "Mommy creative" in a Pinterest way (ugh, this is the worst and most disparaging way to describe this creative impulse, but you get my drift. Lots of creative energy channeled into childrearing activities.)
None of these are bad, but it isn't exactly the same as being artistic. A lot of being artistic is art for art's sake--not creating something to sell or use, just creating something for the simple joy of doing it.
During the month of January, I am doing one sketch per day. It's for the joy of creating, of doing something with my hands, for that moment of concentration. It's for my quest for reclaiming artistic.
Meowth from Pokemon
I really want one.
This is a totally accurate picture of Draculaura from Monster High. It's one of the only shows/franchises banned in our house. The over-the-top sexualization of characters aimed at little girls is incredibly disturbing.
Not a fan of this, but the goal isn't to produce the perfect drawing.
My daughter asked for this.
My son asked for this.
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