~Artsoldier35

Well, it's been a very long time since I did my first journal entry here and I'm finally tired of reading the same damn thing. So, here's an update.

AS some of you know, I am a soldier in the U.S. army (don't hold that against me) and I have been deployed three times now over the past five years. I have been to Iraq twice and am now in Afghanistan. Now this may sound pretty bad and if you ask my family, they'd say so also. BUT,.....I can say that for my art, it is the best thing for me. you see, when I'm back home, I feel guilty whenever I am at my drawing table. I feel guilty that I am not spending every waking moment with my wife and son. I feel guilty because I know that I may be deployed again and won't get that time back. So, I spend a lot of time with them and neglect my art. Oh, I don't neglect it all together but my productivity level definitely drops off.

Then, sure enough, I get deployed again and am away from the family. I get lonely and depressed and find myself prisoner in a small (6 foot by 12 foot room) area lamenting over being away from my loved ones once again. So, I turn back to my art. And I draw! I can say that almost all of the work that I have seen published was drawn in a combat zone. I did the short story for Memories and Echoes: World War II commemorative book during OIF III. This was interesting as I had to scan each panel individually to Thomas Mauer who put them together piece by piece like a puzzle to get the completed pages. This deployment I have again completed a story that will see print before I get back to the states. Footpath: Night of the Ninjas is a short story with Alfred Paige and I that I was able to knock out 8 pages in a little over a month. A new record for me.

So, anyway, I can say that being deployed allows me to buckle down and draw and I'm happy with the end result. I just wish I didn't have to be on the other side of the world where the native people don't want me.

Feeling bad again, think I'll go draw.

Later

Trin