Every Sunday, acclaimed illustrator Colleen Doran — whose credits include her creator-owned comic-book series, “A Distant Soil” – posts a piece of fan art in her blog. This week, she posted a sketch I did of The Victory Streak. You can see it here.

The timing was uncannily appropriate, as just two days prior I had resolved to stop screwing around and commit to pursuing a career as a professional writer and illustrator.  I had all but given up on the idea and was feeling increasingly miserable as a result. I didn’t make the connection until my girlfriend, the lovely Jeannie, did a one-woman intervention and helped me connect the dots.

I’m going to be taking the first step come Monday of next week, when I begin taking advantage of a weekly figure drawing “open studio” offered by the Steve Carpenter Studio in Rochester, N.Y. I discovered this resource last Friday when two of my friends — one of whom posts here under the nom de plume “Keef Yourick” — took Jeannie and I to see a gallery showing/open house. For just four bucks an hour — less if you pay ahead — you get to spend four hours drawing from live figure models and having your work critiqued.

Steve Carpenter is also one of the officers of the New York Figure Study Guild. It’s a wonderful organization that provides weekly critiques, gallery showings of members’ work, and more. Come my next paycheck, I’ll be joining the guild as well.

I feel like a college student again, compiling a shopping list of art supplies as I get ready to pack my little art bin and head off to class once a week. 

I am also embarking on what I anticipate will be a very lengthy period of self-study in all phases of illustration. I expect it will take a long period of really hard work to get my skills up to a professional level. But to paraphrase JFK, we do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.