I've been pressing hard lately in my studio trying to make progress writing-wise with my comic book project to a point I was barely writing at all. I just sat in front of my desk staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank Word file until I get distracted by something lame like FaceBook eventually (I'm sure lots of people can relate). In the end I managed to squeeze out the last bit of substance I had left in me to finish this round of writing, but I took today off and went to downtown Vancouver for a relaxed afternoon of drawing and visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery to freshen things up and I'm glad I did. It's way past high time for me to do this!
I picked Gastown as my location today, it's the oldest part of Vancouver, named after a dude they used to call "Gassy Jack". Gassy Jack used to run a steamship but his greatest contribution to Vancouver was opening the first bar here EVER! (Kudos to him, and what can be a better day to talk about him than St. Patty's Day?) They have a statue and everything for this guy, but what's fascinating to me about old Gassy is all the wackiness in his vibe from his nickname to the lipsticks someone put on his statue.
I also went and drew the steam clock - Gastown's most famous sight. The clock itself is pretty fun to draw, but what's also fun is that every fifteen minutes it whistles and draws a few tourists next to it, of which I've made a couple of drawings today.
I chose to listen to some Bob Dylan tunes on my iPod while I was drawing, they just match well with the energy of the area. "The Times They Are a-Changing" is still ringing in my ears. Now let's see if I can follow through and make some storyboards out of this trip today.
What a good day it has been. I feel so refreshed and just know that tomorrow is going to be a great day going back to work on my comic book with a fresh eye. I really ought to do this more often!
