something I am grateful for today

a moment of self-acceptance

I have unexpectedly found myself creating a new comic strip this year. Part of my preparation for it has involved reading some of my Hägar collection, to try and osmote some of the power of Dik Browne's art. (While I proclaim Bill Watterson to be the greatest artist of humour comic strips, Dik Browne is my personal favourite, at least as far as his actual drawing goes. Watterson remains my fave comic strip writer. And this is as good a time as any to give a shout-out to Brian Crane, who is my fave comic strip creator currently active.) So far I am pleased with how the strip is turning out -- I had a couple of new-to-me technical ideas that have pleased me with how they're working.

There was a moment, while I was inking the strip shown below, where I suddenly thought, This isn't how Dik Browne would do it. It also isn't how Bill Watterson or Brian Crane would do it. And then I thought, more loudly, Well, this is how I do it. And it actually shook me, gently, for a moment. To realize that I felt enough validity in choosing my own artistic path, that I could consciously reject the artistic and stylistic examples of my heroes and carve a path of my own.

I still feel my sutff is not as good as theirs. But I also feel that my sutff is Plenty Good Enough®.