This is one of the largest drawings I have done in a long time measuring 11x14in. The theme for it is pretty much just badassery so if you’re trying to figure out what it’s about just stop and enjoy the bad-assness. It took me a little over 20 hours to complete and is done completely in charcoal. The inspiration for this piece came from Clayton Haugen. Please do yourself a favor and look him up. His work is incredible and he has so many bad-ass photos- and for those of you wondering the model in the photo is Natalie Eva Marie. I decided to use this photo and put my own touch on it by first adding the ice Charger from The Fate of the Furious. Then I added some blood, a tattoo, a skull, broken glass, some smoke, and voila… Bad-assness.
An interesting story about this drawing is that I got about half way and thought that I had completely ruined it. I had just rolled out of bed, walked to the keurig, and started it up to make my first batch of coffee. While it warmed up I got everything situated- camera set, pencils and erasers ready. Walk back over to the keurig and brewed my coffee. Then, I make my way toward my desk, set my coffee on the window sill next to my desk, and figure out which part of my drawing I’ll start on next. Now, I’m ready- I’m zoned in. I got my Black Rifle Coffee, Drinkin’ Bros Podcast playing, and my pencil in hand. I reach up to start recording and… splosh. My elbow tapped my mug just enough for it to tip over and nearly engulf my entire drawing in coffee. I rush to grab towels and once I had finished cleaning the disaster- I sat in disbelief. Not only was I concerned about my drawing but also my damn coffee. What a waste. “I failed.” I thought to myself. Then I was finally able to pull myself together. I allowed the drawing to dry and in the meantime I contemplated whether or not I would continue. After analyzing the damage I decided I would finish what I had started- no matter how it came out and I did just that.
There is a huge lesson to be learned here. Yes, I will never place my coffee on the window sill again but that’s not what I’m referring to. The lesson I’m talking about is how, while accomplishing things in life, when we face the first sign of failure- we back down. We question ourselves. Can I do it? Am I good enough? But we should never doubt our self. What you have to ask yourself in that moment is: Am I willing to see this through no matter the outcome? We are often so intimidated by the thought of failure that we allow it cripple us. When your life situation is covered in steaming hot coffee and you are faced with the choice of whether to finish or fail- finish, because the true failure is to never finish at all.
I hope you enjoyed the story as well as the drawing and if you look close enough you can see some of the splatter from the coffee. It actually adds more to it and I think I speak for us all when I say that I’m glad I finished. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you took something away from it. Stay tuned for the release of the time-lapse video of this drawing and for my future projects.