June 4: Braaains part 2 (with Tales of Controversy!)

This is a "husband and wife" zombie portrait sketch I did for some very good friends of mine a couple weeks ago. I would have posted it then, but I mailed them the actual drawing and didn't want to post it up here until I knew they got it. Turns out they just got it this weekend, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it now:



Here's kind of a funny story to go along with this drawing, that I figured I'd tack on for kicks. So I post every now and then on a comic artists message board; I won't name the place, but it's a site I've frequented off and on for the past 4 or 5 years where a bunch of comic book artists, from amateur artists to semi-professionals, post their work and comment on each others in the process. It's a pretty good place to post your work and get some good feedback as well.

ANYWAY I posted this drawing there after I finished it a couple weeks ago just to see what people thought of it. So I post it and I wait and wait and wait, and no response. Finally a couple people respond, with honest, yet slightly abrasive responses--to me, at least. Now, weeks later, they aren't as abrasive as I thought they were, which makes me feel like kind of an ass.

I'm usually pretty good when it comes to taking criticism, but combine the anonymity of the internet with a couple of slightly off-putting comments with having to wait several days to even hear any comments, let alone comments I didn't particularly agree with, and I'm going to probably let it be known how I feel. Basically I said that the guys who commented "took the fun out of drawing" and asked if anyone had anything "nice" to say.

"Nice." That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Next day I get a response, telling me that if I'm looking for something positive that I was on the wrong message board. Needless to say, I responded back with a shove of my own. To make a long story short, after a couple other people weighing in, me unknowingly telling a forum moderator to "take your 'we're not here to make you feel good' mentality and shove it up your ass," and a couple other random guys exchanging verbal blows, the thread was closed, leaving a trail of bitter men and bad blood in its wake. All over a sketch of some zombies. What's up with that?

Anyway, that's the drawing, and a little story to go along with it. I hope you guys dig, feel free to lemme know what you think (famous last words...)

Later!