Why am I not Drawing?

The first week of 2026 is almost gone and I’m back in the office. Time to stop obsessing over the chaos and noise, though it’s damn tough to do when reality is shredded and redrawn on a daily basis like some demonic etch-a-sketch. The last few months, I’ve been doing more writing than drawing, and I could feel those sketching muscles atrophying away. If you don’t use, it will go bye-bye.

Neglecting my creative instrument is an ugly feedback exercise; the less I do it, the more I believe it’s over, that whatever I will attempt will be a pile of shite. That feeling rubs up against that beast of perfection, because you know, EVERY DRAWING BETTER BE PERFECT! (sorry for the ALL CAPS, must be something in the zeitgeist) I do like, hell, love to draw, and when I finally do cut through all the distractions and take pen in hand and spill that ink, I feel much better immediately. So, why don’t I run at that fast and hard, like everyday? Better to not get too far in over thinking that, yet another distraction, and just get on with it, and so I did today.

This was my inspiration, the face of Timothy Carey from the film “The World’s Greatest Sinner”. I have not seen the movie, but it’s on my list now. I found this image on an IG post on The Nickel Cinema’s feed. If you haven’t heard of it, The Nickel Cinema is an amazing boutique movie theater in London specializing in grindhouse movies. Whenever I visit The Big Smoke, I pop in there two watch a film or two and buy some DVD/Blu-rays or books (physical media will never die!). I was compelled to draw this because of the shape of the this guy’s head and face. I like his hair and the crooked nose, which I exaggerated and the intense and creepy expression on his face. Making this drawing was a good way for me to start this week.

I added a quote to the drawing from “The World’s Greatest Sinner” that struck a chord with me, “Let’s be different. Let’s not hate anyone.” Good advice in these days of algorithmic-driven hate content. Anything to keep your eyeballs glued to the screen.

To get my ass back on the drawing track, I will make a drawing a week and post it here. That way I’ll at least end the year with 52 drawings, let us hope many more and some comix too!

See you next week! And don’t forget to be different!

OK HW