I Wish

Peoples' talents just amaze me.

I used to draw as a kid, a lot, like, all the time. If I wasn't outside romping in the forest or playing some kind of sport, you can bet I was inside drawing - mostly monsters (mainly Godzilla or Alien), or anime, or animals.

Something about drawing just sucked me in and relaxed me. I never considered myself a "good" drawer in the sense that I need something to look at in order to draw it well. I was never good at just reaching into my mind and letting that image flow from my mind, through my body, down my arm, into my hand, and out of the pencil tip and onto the paper. I needed something to look at. Mimic. To in a sense, copy, which, on some level, really isn't respectful drawing since it could be seen as plagiarism.

But, thats where I excelled and I did it often. In school I'd be the kid who would copy animals out of National Geographic, or characters from my favorite comic book (Spider Man....duh) and my classmates would love it. I'd be asked to draw for them, my teacher would ask for me to add to the decorations in the room. Of course, I never had a problem with this. I loved it. It was nice hearing from others that I was good at something.

I had one rule though - never...never ever use color. I was strictly a black and white artist. There had been times when I'd attempt to add some shading and the picture would always come out wrong, looking worse. I'd be disgusted with it and ultimately stuck with it, since you can't just easily erase colored pencil.

It only happened a few times. I learned quick.

So by this point, I'm sure you're sitting there, wondering why the hell did I just ramble on about all this? Well, the following video to brilliantly explains why I brought you to this point. Even with my history of drawing, when I see a real good artist or piece, I'm still amazed by the skill involved.

So, the video below blows my mind. For two main reasons.

1. There is no color. I love that there is no color. It's like how I used to draw. It just feels cleaner to me, while also, somehow dirty - probably from shading with the pencil.

2. While there are clear aspects that are copied from other pop culture work (such as characters or scenes or themes - just like my old ways) - there clearly was no reference piece to this. It is all hand drawn and it is long. I can't imagine the man hours poured into this in order to complete it.

This is a level I would never be able to reach. This is the kind of talent you have to just be born with.

Impressive just isn't strong enough of a word to describe it: