. . . Do you do this professionally, ND? Drawing, I mean.
No, not really. People all around me keep telling me I should, but I know myself... if I turn drawing into a job I'll ruin it for myself. I started drawing when I was 3 and for the first 7 years or so it was all I did every single day, but then things happened and... well, without going into details I've been severely depressed for over 10 years, I've had years of therapy, I've swallowed medication for years. Those ten years put a huge damper on my artistic abilities. I didn't completely stop drawing but it pretty much ruined my motivation and inspiration to do so. Where I used to draw every day and loved everything I made, in those days I really considered myself lucky if I could sketch something once a week that didn't completely suck in my eyes.
I'm 'cured' now, no more therapy and I stopped taking meds a year ago, but these inspiration/motivation issues are things that still bother me. I still can't draw as much as I used to, even though I really want to.
So usually, if I take on commissions and make it into a job, and draw what people pay me to draw instead of what I
want to draw, I end up getting fed up with it. It doesn't help that I'm a chronic procastinator (like daVinci!) and in nearly all commission cases I've done, I ended up having to force myself to finish it. But that makes me feel bad, because I give the client a piece of art that they paid for while at the same time I hate how it looks. Sometimes I even had to cancel it and give them their money back.
That's why I always make sure that when I do open requests and commissions, my potential clients KNOW that I always keep the right to say no. I only agree to do it if their idea interests me, so I won't have to force myself to draw something I don't like.
That's why I'll never do this professionally, despite how much I wish I could. But for my own sanity I have to keep it as a hobby and nothing more.
That's why I'm so glad I got back into Animorphs. It gave my motivation to draw again such a major boast! Inspiration is still an issue at times, so that's why I opened requests here. And my mom helps a lot as well, pitching ideas because she knows about my re-found Animorphs love (I've been hoarding her e-reader lol). She's been trying to coax me into turning it into a comic, just for fun, even if it will never see the finish line, because she knows how much I used to love drawing comics before my depression.
SO yeah. I didn't mean to turn my answer into a lengthy rant about my life, but there you go. ^_^;;
