We All Have That Child Inside Us

On the cusp, the unreturning pendulum, not yet a teenager, yet a critic on the verge of announcing. Who was that kid for y’all? Inspired by Mattel, I drew characters from the television shows in elementary school. Before those formative years, I drew the characters from the cereal boxes. I was a scrawny child with no real physicality, so art made sense to me. Natural talent always changed the endgame for me, while shapes came together for an overimaginative child with the whole night to materialize people, places, and things that floated in the darkness. The images illuminated in my mind.

Whenever these occurrences happened to me, I discovered the ability to record with photographic memory. I create all forms of art, including abstract art. I still work this way, except that years of training have given me the ability to meet on-demand qualifications and to provide creative services efficiently and effectively. After that meeting of the minds, when options were weighed, the scale tipped toward the perfect product. I snap into a technical thought process, using logic and facts to map an illustration out from start to finish. I see a blank canvas, and then immediate movement and construction happen. 

Even the most technical aspects of an image must take these factors into account. First, what does the eleven-year-old think about the concept? Does the vision feel proportionate to a scheme to create every one of its vantage points? See it as a whole, immaturely, so as to utilize the part of the imagination that adults fail to reach. I think kids risk ridiculous measures to achieve something that confidence assures will happen logically. When the process really moves, every given line drawn has more importance than the last.

Never make an eleven-year-old erase an entire drawing over details left out. I know what wrath I had when something could have had an effective process, but one poor choice leaves an artist learning from mistakes. My pen work has improved a lot since advancing to more detailed concepts. The idea of my eleven-year-old using artificial intelligence is a preposterous idea to entertain for even a second. I would definitely have received noogies, head rubs, pats on the back, and pinches if things got too nerve-racking.

I listen to that darn kid. He’s got some longstanding reminders about what can happen and will inevitably happen. My strong advice is to hear the little voice in your head. I promise, it’s that little jerk trying to get you beyond where you are. Mine advises me to play more and to work smart, not hard.

If you really want to press the hard issues, try coping with the six-year-old version of yourself.