I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. Drawing is a calming and meditative thing thing for me, I love to zone out and just notice how the light falls onto a shape and the shadows cradle forms. I also love drawing hands and feet, they are still challenging for me don't get me wrong, but oooh all those little fingers and toes are fun to draw! They create such intricate cylindrical shapes to shade and can create many different directional designs.
I remember the first time I tried to draw a realisic hand, when I was 8. I drew an outline that was proportionate, but I was fustrated because I could see how the light and shading was on my hand, didn't know how to interpret it on paper yet. I went to my mother and she said "What do you mean? That looks like a hand, it's just simplified like a cartoon! What's the problem?"
Then I had an ah-ha moment, I may not be able to master fine art at age 8 but I had a plethora of cartoons to be inspired from. From then on I mimicked drawings of all my favorite cartoons at the time, Bugs Bunny, Ren & Stimpy was a big influence. Then I went on to create my own characters based off of my Stuffed animals and Toys.
That's where my love of drawing and cartooning blossomed into something that would become a lifetime practice. I was blessed to have creative parents who encouraged my artisitic inclinations.
