Howdy folks, RipRoarRex back again.


Over the past 12 months, I'm sure many of you will have noticed something of a change of direction in my artwork. With a few exceptions, 2012 has primarily been a year of exploring cartoon styles for me, and it is something I have actually rather enjoyed.

Indeed, one of the reasons I have enjoyed it is because it is considerably easier and less stressful for me than the more realistic style which I have come to consider my own over the past couple of years. When I forced myself to resume this style in order to produce the 12 profile images of my original characters for the relaunch of RipRoarRex's Realm, a few of you will recall that I experienced major difficulties with some of the pictures, and the full collection actually took around two months to complete.

Those difficulties were representative of what has comprised the majority of my experiences in creating pictures over the last three years or so. Indeed, one of my journal entries in September outlined the full extent of these common problems. As such, when I know I'm likely to suffer this same rollercoaster of irritations every time I sit down to work on a new piece, it becomes very hard to even start a new picture at all, and I have to be very motivated and focused if I am to be capable of overcoming that hurdle.

The main reason I have had these difficulties over the last couple of years is because, put simply, my standards have become higher. When I first arrived in the fandom and saw other people's furry artwork for the first time, I came to realise just how much I had to learn about anatomy and animal forms, as demonstrated by the rather crude standards of my work back in 2007. In those days, it did not bother me so much - I was only interested in what the characters were doing rather than how they actually looked - but I subsequently took it upon myself to improve.

I recognise that I have been pretty successful in achieving this aim given the rate and extent to which my work has developed since then. But during that time, the balance between 'drawing things I want to see' and 'drawing things well' has tipped from the former to the latter, so much so that I now find little enjoyment in creating artwork unless it looks absolutely perfect - and the simple truth is, it very rarely comes close. It is this obsession to become better at what I do that has kicked all the fun out of my work, and driven me to such frequent moments of madness described in the aforementioned journal.

However, these are only the constraints of the more realistic, anatomically-accurate style of mine that I have developed in the last few years. Where cartooning is concerned, this does not apply - or at least not to anywhere near the same degree. Cartoon styles are, by their nature, much more forgiving and loose in form, and I feel less pressure to 'get things right' when sketching toons compared with my regular approach. My divergence over the past year into replicating the styles of Seth MacFarlane, Disney and Warner Bros is demonstrative of my desire to regain that expressive freedom that comes from cartooning - albeit with the alternative constraints of working in someone else's style.

But what it has done is made me realise that I miss drawing cartoons. I miss the days when I could have an idea, draw it crudely within an hour and enjoy the concept for what it was, rather than quibble for days or even weeks over how it had been represented. As poor as my early work was by my recent standards, it was more quick and fun to create. And furthermore, so were the cartoon images I have been drawing over the past 12 months.


As such, back during those frustrating summer weeks when I was creating those damned profile images, I came to a personal decision - I want to go back to my cartoon style.


I know I have come a long way in the last few years and I feel I have learned an awful lot. I've also discovered what I can do, testing and developing my abilities to personal levels that, a few years back, I never thought I would have reached. But now I've done that, I feel I have gotten about as much as I can out of it, and realised that it has robbed me of what I started drawing for in the first place. I know what I can do, and you know what I can do, so there's not much left to prove.

When producing those profile pictures, I sought to make them the best representations of my characters that I could. But now I've done that, I feel I have license to play with them in a much more loose form again, to worry less about how they look and more about what they're doing, as was always the intention in creating them. The profiles of my 12 original characters have established their designs in the most precise way I can currently manage - now I don't need to be that precise ever again.

I shall clarify - this doesn't mean that I will suddenly drop all my standards and produce rubbish work, not least because I wouldn't be able to let myself do that. This doesn't mean that I'll never push myself again or never draw anything with the same (if not greater) levels of accuracy and realism that I have been doing in recent times. But I feel I would prefer this to be the minority of occasions, and instead to make cartooning the majority of my artistic output again. Rather than testing my skills, I think I'd rather just enjoy them now.

Now I know I don't need to make this 'announcement'. I know I don't need to justify what direction I take my artwork in, or explain why the standard of my future output may yet seem inferior to what I've already done. Indeed, I know I also need not consider it 'inferior' to anything. But given how annoyed I have gotten with myself over the last few years, I've found a catharsis in writing this journal, and it helps me to express to you all what my artwork has become, and what I would therefore like it to become in future: a hobby, not a job.

In closing: further to the comments I made at the end of my last submission, I just wanted to confirm that I won't be producing any more artwork before the end of 2012 - as much as I enjoy my tradition of a New Year's Eve picture, I simply don't have the time or freedom now to produce one given my current circumstances with relatives staying over for the holidays. As such, I shall instead look ahead to 2013 with a new attitude and hopefully be back next year with some fresh new material for you all.

To everyone, here's wishing you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Take care!


RRRex