I once asked a fellow artist pal why he didn’t create his own superheroes and villains. Why do fan art? Why not create something all his own?
As if it’s that easy! Thinking is easy… doing is hard.
I know from my personal experience that my drive to “make” far exceeds my imagination. Meaning that in the my pie chart of creative skills, “artist” makes up only a small percentage.
Recently, I read the word “darkling” somewhere on the internet, and it made alarm bells go off in my brain. It has since developed into a really neat character with a lovely little story.
Where does inspiration come from? Is it really a thing? Can it be sought out? Do some people get more than others?
The other night I watched a TedEd called “Questions no one has the answers to” with my son Judah. At one point the narrator, Chris Anderson, ponders the question. “Why haven’t we seen evidence of alien life?” and he talks about the possibility that advanced intelligent life may be microscopic in nature.
“Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of alien life.”
Sometimes that’s how inspiration feels. Alien and other-worldly, but hey I’m game, I’ll take that magic carpet ride and see where it goes.
So, in 2019, you can expect more Bitty Baddies at Michigan conventions, and the development of my own character that will fit right in with them. And if all goes well maybe by the end of the year I’ll be selling a children’s book featuring her.
Stay tuned!
