Urbanhermit writes a bit of history!

Caution!!  Old Fart alert!


I've been drawing since before the 1970s though my 'style' didn't set 
(fossilize) until the '80s. The drawings are 'concept' type, just to get the 
idea and image onto paper. The intent was to go back later when I had more 
time/interest and redo the picture. That very seldom happened as fresher 
images intruded and demanded expression. A drawing session typically 
produces 8-12 drawings per hour for 3-4 hours.

The drawings accumulated in file cabinet folders until they overloaded the 
storage, when there would come a purge and I would burn a thousand or two of 
them. The older the drawings the more purges they had to survive, and the 
smaller the percentage of keepers. Note that except for 10 or so early ones, 
none of the drawings were seen by anyone but me.

In the middle '80s I got a Macintosh and scanner, to work on the drawings 
electronically. I tried several programs and settled on a vector-graphics 
type. This produces straight lines using two points and gives smooth curves 
using three or more points per line. Limitations include constant width for 
each line and many points needed for details such as toes on a paw.

By 1990 or so the sketches had gotten bad enough that I almost had to label 
each with what the participants were. I was improving from that when in '93 
I discovered the furry community. Hah! Lots of great artwork and stories and 
such, and despair of ever drawing so well. After some months of feverish 
collecting and fewer drawings, I started working at improving again. I 
wouldn't be able to match the work of a name artist but I could do better 
with my own drawing.

It was not to be, or at least not for quite some time. In '94 I got some 
kind of depression bug and everything became an effort. I kept up the 
go-to-work part but the draw-better part suffered. Ideas-to-paper became 
more limited and the-same-old-crap, just getting more extreme. So, ten years 
later I'm still weary but improving slowly.


The major part of the scan and 'inking' (trace with the vectors) of my 
drawings took place in the late '90s. When doing an old sketch the choice of 
trace or redraw usually came down as redraw. This obscures any differences 
in style or improvement in drawing. I am dissatisfied with the limitations 
of the old program and am looking at Flash and Freehand as replacements. The 
drive to 'ink' is low, and most of the new stuff done is shown as sketches.


Recap:
My drawings are quick 'concept' sketches, not intended to be shown except to 
an artist who would produce a finished picture.

They -were- posted to let anyone see them who might like them, rather than 
be lost in that big bit-bucket in the sky.


There. Wasn't that more than you ever wanted to know?  :-)