Humanis Rex #6 Preview
A page from Humanis Rex for Fudge Magazine's September issue. The August issue should be out right about now.
Although I had been coloring my own stories since Pulp Magazine's early issues in 2000, this is the first time I'm doing it on a regular basis. I get such a creative buzz when I start out with a blank piece of paper in the morning and end up with a fully colored page 24 hours later.
Now there have been suggestions that I get someone else to ink my own work because of perceptions of flaws in my finished art. Let me say that I appreciate all suggestions, comments, complaints about what I do. If anyone is willing enough to be honest about their opinion, I certainly hope they give me the courtesy of being honest about who they are as well, just so they prove to me that they stand by their opinion, and believe in it enough to attach their name to it. Because you know, if you can't be honest about who you are, how can I be sure you are being honest about your opinion as well?
If you are a friend of mine, then I would appreciate you more as a friend for being straight with me.
That said, the comment about my art is something I would like to write about. I've already responded in the comments section, but I think I need to talk about it here as well.
As an artist, and not just a comics artist, I feel creatively fulfilled if I do my art all my own, without the benefit of another artist coming in to finish my work for me. If I get another inker to finish my work, I feel that would be an escape. I would be closing myself to learning and improving, and it would be an act that refuses to take responsibility for the quality of my work.
And to anyone who feels I should get someone else to finish my work, then you do me a great disservice, and must not respect me much as an artist because you feel I have no more room to improve. To tell me that I need to improve certain aspects of my art is very welcome, but to tell me to stop doing my work and hand it to another artist, instead asking me to improve it myself, is another thing entirely.
Any artist always has room to improve, and I am no exception. No artist is an exception, not the 50 year veteran, and certainly not the young unpublished punk who thinks he's better than everyone else. There are still plenty of things I need to work on, and even when I've tucked decades worth of training and experience under my belt, I would still feel that I still have much to learn.
