Various eBay books I put on sale

Thank you for that. I think when I last drew a lot a year or two ago, towards the tail end of it, I tried working on that. That is a lot harder for me to get than just drawing because I see it as kind of a inking quality. When I penciled, generally it was with a mechanical pencils. I think it was a .5mm. I was just focused on drawing all the elements of the picture I was doing as best I can and when I was done, the line weights were all the same. It's sorta like trimming your hair with hair clippers. You put an extension it (say a #1) and then you go all over your head. When you're done, all your hair is the same length. That is what was happening to me when I was drawing. I tried correcting that as I drew but it was difficult for me. It almost would have been better if I had drew my pieces and then inked them afterwards. Instead, all I had was my pencils. I know the great artists have line weights incorporated into their pencils. I think that is what separates me from being an okay artist, to being a really good artist. Whenever I get life settled again and pick my art back up, I will focus more on that quality.

I always get mad when I think about my artistic life. Me and BigW met at the age of 12 and during that time, we both had roughly the same artistic abilities. He might have been slightly better because he had more of a photographic memory when it came to drawing. I was typically the better storytelling artist. I took 3 years of commercial art in High School but it bored me to tears because I wanted to draw and my instructor was dead set on teaching us all the other aspects of art like Paste Ups, Advertisements Mock Ups, and using mediums I didn't care for. 85-90% of the time I was in there, had very little to do with me increasing my artistic talents and more with doing more professional work in other aspects. By time High School was over, I was pretty decent at art. I even got a few paying jobs from a couple of companies. It was flattering. However, I didn't think I was good enough to make a real living at it. So I concentrated elsewhere in my life and put art away. In the meantime, BigW just never stopped drawing. Ever. And he would be a real bonafide artist by time we were 23-24 years old. Just recently, he finally took a real job because art was too up and down for too long. But he still gets side jobs. Me on the other hand, I picked my art back up in the last 1-4 years remembering the love I used to have for it. The difference is, BigW never stopped. As in most walks of life, the things you stick with are the things you get really good at. I get mad because seeing how I draw now when I put my mind to it, I often wonder where I would be at if I never quit?? It's like a wasted talent. I still feel like I have some unfinished business in my artistic future. I certainly hope 1 day I do something I am proud of.

I know you want your work to be as good as it possibly can be and the facial expressions and hands mean that much to you. You seem like someone who can live their normal everyday life and then devote time to other endeavors (like making checklists and mining data and stuff like that). I think if you devoted about 1/10th of that extra curricular time to your art, you could draw another book and keep up with all your other side quests. I know just like everything though, it all comes down to desire. But I do think you have it in you.