Who says TV is a waste of time?

On Sunday I received a whim of inspiration from a show I’ve previously expressed my fondness for, Felicity. My sister loaned me season 2 on DVD and I watched several episodes throughout the course of the day. Hopefully this doesn’t spoil too much for those of you who have yet to watch it, but the main character decides to switch her major from pre-med to art because she feels more of a passion for the latter. As I processed this turn of events, I began to reflect on my own life.

See, I’ve always been a creative person. I’ll be the first to admit that good ideas don’t strike me as often as I’d like, but I love the idea of creating something meaningful from nothing. That’s why I really enjoy art (including drawing), writing, and even computer programming (where I construct a practical and useful piece of software from nothing more than an idea and some hard work). Much to my chagrin, I often neglect some of my loves and talents due to a lack of inspiration, a lack of time, or both.

After watching these episodes of Felicity today, however, I realized that I need to embrace what I think is a reasonable talent—my ability to draw. I loved drawing when I was little, as I would conjure up doodles of my favorite cartoon and comic book characters in my spare time. I even took a drawing class as a youngster (which was taught, ironically enough, by a gentleman named “Art”). When I entered junior high I took art classes for both years, but unfortunately I did not continue this into high school, and that’s where my disconnect begins.

High school was, I believe, the official turning point in my life, at least in one regard. If I had continued taking art classes I firmly believe I would have been an art major of some kind. Computers (or, more accurately, what you could do with them) stole my attention from art, however, so that’s likely why I ended up majoring in computer science. Now, I do love computer science, and I think I will enjoy the work I’ll do for the next forty-plus years. Had I not cut off art, however, I believe I’d probably have graduated with some sort of computer art degree and I might be working as a 3D modeler or animator right now.

Okay, the purpose of this post is not to look back on what happened and complain that I made a mistake. I don’t necessarily think that’s the case, in fact. I mean, it’s not like I’ve passed over art to become a garbage man or something—I love computers because they are a blend of science, creativity, and communication. I love to do so many things with computers—including art. So really, the true purpose behind this posting is to reaffirm my love for drawing and to try to get myself to begin sketching for both fun and as a creative outlet.

Assuming I can actually make good on my desire to start drawing again, I’ll post pictures on this page. Feel free to critique them, although you’d better understand that the quality of your birthday presents depends on how nice you are in your critique. (Just kidding!)

So that’s that. Hopefully I’ll have something up here soon—Lord knows my keyboard can use the break from all this typing!

-Mark