THE ARTIST: PAST LIFE ILLUSTRATED (Final Part)

This is the final torture I'm going to put you through. No more 'artist' stuff after this.

I also tried to draw other than people. I tried buildings & structures, but never became good at it. Few pieces came as acceptable but that was the end of it.

This is Metropolis in 3B, 4B

This is ToxiCity in 0.7 Artline marker. I was very attracted to the idea of dystopia when I was in a beautiful 'Lord-of-the-Rings' place. Now, braving the traffic at 7 am, the idea is no longer romantic or courageous to live through.

And this is the electricity pole in front of my room, a sight from my window on 122, Frederick Street, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.

And I planned to do a modern graphic novel version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I got as far as the main character sketch and found out that I enjoyed writing the STORY more. Words are easier and faster. Anyway, with words people can correct you. But these things you draw – you’re stuck with it as it first came out. No one ever had his/ her painting edited.

This is the monster. There are days I think of myself as the monster.

Victor Frankenstein. There are days when I think I am Frankenstein. But that is only creatively speaking.

This is the painting I made for my first creative/ fiction writing mentor, Gaynor Corkery, entitled The Storyteller. It is acrylic on a pre-primed painting board. so, it was a easy. Before I gave it to her, I smartly photocopied the painting. It was huge. Imagine the photocopy boy's dismay when he was given the task!

And this is a promotional poster I made for my first batch of students’ stage play ‘Merdekakan Cinta Ratna’ back in 2002. Those were good days.

So, what happens now? Drawing, unlike writing is a skill that deteriorates very fast. I had to start from zero to gain my mediocre skills back in 1997. And that 1997 skill was trained since 1980! So I guess, drawing and painting are no longer practical to me. Last week, I drew a beaver on the whiteboard to illustrate the idiom ‘eager beaver’. My students said ‘oh!’ in unison, so I guess I still got the moves!