Zero Years

:// INTRO

I guess you can say I was a pretty normal kid growing up. I was very active, I enjoyed playing and watching cartoons.

School was awesome, beside being fun, we always did arts and crafts. You could also say art was around me constantly.

Drawing always appealed to me. However, I never really sat down and “did it”.

Then I moved to Mexico.

You know what’s the only thing to do besides play Soccer and Hike in a small Mexican town when you’re 10 years old?

DRAW.

:// THE PENCIL IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

Anime is huge in Mexico.

Wait, let me rephrase that:

Anime is HUGE in Mexico.

Shit is even more popular that Tacos (and Soccer).

Trust me, I’ve seen it.

Being constantly barraged by Anime on every channel, one day I got the urge to draw. I went to my local PAPELERIA (office supply store for those in the English speaking world), and bought a sketch book.

Besides having Anime on every channel, one thing that all kids loved back then were “sticker books”. These books were themed to popular Anime. As you can see from my output Dragon Ball Z was a pretty big deal down there.

Followed by a close second with Sailor Moon.

So I sat my ass down and broke out a DBZ sticker from my collection and started to draw.

It sucked. Big time.

It looked like someone who is mentally challenged and blind drew it with their left foot.

But I had something going.

God damn I had something going.

:// CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS TECNOLOGICOS INDUSTRIAL Y DE SERVICIOS NUMERO 150

Abbreviated CETis No. 150, which is also called PERPARATORIA in Mexico (known as high school in the United States of America), that is where my shit really took off.

I had honed my craft during classes and in the evenings at home. I cut my teeth drawing Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Ranma ½ and a sprinkle of Americana (X-MEN, Spider-man, Spawn, etc).

I got good, really good.

Then I realized it:

I wasn’t drawing, I was copying artwork.

Yeah, I could lay down some solid lines and replicate a drawing 1 to 1, but that was it, I was replicating, not creating.

Back then it didn’t bother me though. For all I knew “creative stuff” was just a hobby (was I wrong).

There was another thing that also happened with my “artwork” getting better, somehow, I became the guy that could “draw” according to everyone I knew.

:// T M Z

That does earn you some sort of fame (and play). Oh, and enemies too.

I actually knew a couple of dudes that literally hated my ass because I would draw. One of them even started bad mouthing me to everyone I knew.

Going back to my sketch books, I must have probably filled out 10 – 15 front to back. Some with multiple images on the same page. I had thought they were long gone. I always remembered them though.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have saved them as if they were a signed copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles # 1.

A few years back, three maybe, my dad gave me a hand made book. Turns out he had saved all the sketches he could find and saved them in this book.

I finally have some record of those old sketches. So I scanned and uploaded the top 12 sketches that book has.

:// NOT GIVING A SHIT

By posting these images I am breaking THE first rule of a portfolio:

/

You should only post your best work.

/

As this artwork is not original, that is also frowned upon. However, these sketches were my first REAL dive into creativity.

Sure, I copied comic book panels and covers; but damn if that didn’t teach me perspective and composition.

My site has transitioned over the years. The first few years were all about portfolio pieces and catering to possible employers / contractors. However, since 2020 I was forced to make the move to not “give a shit” anymore.

One liberating thing about that is the fact that as of this writing, ALL of the creative things I have ever done now live on my site.

A few days ago, I posted my latest project LAUNCHPAD. It actually almost brought tears to my eyes when I realized that three days after that, I was scanning the only proof of my creative childhood to post on my site.

My original thought was to clean up every image after I scanned it.

But once I looked at them, I decided to leave them alone. I love the little imperfections from the pencil. Plus, some sheets are thinner than others so you can sort of see the next sketch beneath it.

There are some projects I have thought about deleting because they lead to nothing, but then that history would be gone too.

I think it is appropriate that these notes do not have any images.

That’s only because I never had the foresight to take a picture of the art desk my Dad made for me so I could sketch.

Much less have a camera so I could take pictures of my room where I spent most of my time sketching and reading.

Life is weird.

Fun, but weird.