Project Description

INKTOBER 2023 Day #3: PATH.

“Art is weird. I’ve always been a nostalgic kinda guy. Even from a very young age, I remember experiencing a longing for moments in time that couldn’t be recaptured. I would feel it when I would get to the end of a good book, remembering the beginning of the adventures and characters that didn’t make it to the end, and even though in that case I knew I could reread it, I knew I could never read it for the first time again. I would even feel it FOR other people, for things I never did, people I never knew, experiences I never had. I still remember being a pre-teen down at the beach, overhearing my late grandfather talking to my dad – who was helping us kids build a sand wall and tide pool – talking about ‘the good ol’ days’ when he and my father would engage in similar activities.

I didn’t think I had a strong idea for this prompt. The image I saw was pretty literal, and maybe basic. Just PMD walking on an interesting path. I decided to get some scenery reference, and ended up digging through old pictures of family hikes with my wife and kids. I tried to take a lot of pictures of what we did, but I also didn’t lose sight of the spectacular visuals around me. I’ve built up quite a library of cool scenery, vegetation, rocks, lighting, textures, etc. from those hikes. We had some pretty epic adventures, which were often filled with challenges and frustrations in the moment, but I can’t help but look back at those times and miss them, and wish that I could go back in time for just a few moments and experience them again. I referenced one of my favorite pictures I took for this illustration. It was a hike we did in 2016 in The White Mountain National Forest in NH. There’s a beautiful alpine field of sorts on the ridge between Mount Washington and Mount Clay. As we approached Clay, the view was amazing and was just inescapably visually inspiring. I knew I had to attempt to capture the scene, because I knew someday it would make its way into my art, probably more than once. ‘Path’ is sometimes an overused metaphor for life, but dang it, it’s a good one that hits hard, especially during these nostalgic moments.”

Are you enjoying these monkey-filled pen and ink illustrations? Would you like to see even more of them, and be able to hold them in your very own hands? Then grab yourself a copy of my Inktober art book INKLINGS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733734716?ref_=ast_author_dp