childhood memories: part one...

I heard a story about a little girl who asked an adult to draw something, and the adult told her, "I don't know how to draw." The little girl replied, "When did you forget how?"

The idea here is that, as children, we're all artists. We create many things in many ways, and then we grow up. As adults we limit ourselves and our imaginations. Going back to things from our childhood can bring about all kinds of inspiration!

Are you familiar with the artist/author Ed Emberley? As a child I loved all of his books. I checked them out from the library (I think they still have the same copies!), and was thrilled to own some of them too. But I sort of forgot about how influential he was on me.

Until I heard about Emberley Galaxy. It's a book that is a tribute to Ed, and features artwork and comics by various artists, all influenced by the artwork of Ed Emberley. Of course, I had to have it. And I'm glad that got it, because it brought inspiration.



A few days ago I showed an image of something that I'm working on, and it's getting closer. This will be a self-portrait that I was asked to create. But going into it I was stuck. How should I do it, what will it look like, where will the concept come from? And then inspiration came in the form of simple shapes and lines. In fact, this style of illustration is what I often use, so it makes sense that a childhood influence should come into play.

Tomorrow I look forward to sharing with you someone else's work that has some childhood inspiration in it. It's amazing that by looking back, you can create great things going forward!