Boy, it's been a minute since I last updated here. I realized this earlier this morning when I was thinking back to some High School things, and it suddenly occurred to me... hey, wasn't I just writing stuff about that? Yep. Well, here it goes, back on the track.
For now.
In High School I was pretty much known for being able to do one thing really well: draw. Sure, I was abundantly proficient at writing; both for assigned work and just because I enjoyed doing it. But it was always drawing that made my circle of friends and acquaintances that much bigger. I don't know how it all started, since as I said, I was new to Paw Paw for High School and only knew one person from my Portage years, so it wasn't like I had friends who spread the word. It's possible I was in art class (a subject I always excelled at and was frequently given different assignments because I was just so much more adept at things... not that I'm bragging, but there it is) and maybe chatter started there and kids began to see what I was capable of doing. However it happened, it spread and I began doing as much as I could for everyone who asked.
If there was a big basketball or football game, I'd be brought on to design signs and banners. If prom or some kind of dance or extracurricular activity was the subject, I'd be asked to help draw that up. In fact, at one point I was in the running to change the logo for the school sports teams. Though I lost out, some of my input was used in the final design that ended up getting used. I designed a T-Shirt at one point, I was consistently on the yearbook staff helping with that, and I often helped less-than artistic teachers roll out some cool graphics for something or other.
In two cases of that nature I can remember, I helped my Spanish teacher and my Chem teacher. First there was Mrs. Howell, my Spanish instructor. I was pathetic and lousy at Spanish and I honestly didn't care. Well, my grade cared because it sucked. So, in order to get it up to beyond just passing, I was commissioned to draw up and write game cards for a Spanish version of CLUE. They turned out well enough to get used years later when my brother and sister each went through the class, so I suppose that was something. And I got a sold C out of it! The other was artwork of molecules and their workings like atomic weights and such for Mrs. McCarthy's Chem class. She was one of my favorite teachers and in this case it wasn't to improve a grade, I just did it because she asked. Word got around to other teachers and I'd do a few small things here and there, but those two were some of the more major achievements that I can readily remember.
But the biggest and, arguably, most famous artwork I was ever a part of turned out to be something I still hold dear and still have in my memorabilia collection. My buddy Paul and I decided it would be really fun to start doing an episodic comic strip based on characters we'd created who looked remarkably similar to a few students we weren't too fond of. Yeah, it initially started out as being kind of mean, but it slowly morphed into more of just good-natured ribbing, as well as gaining a life of its own. The Comic was called LYLE and it starred a tall, pimple-faced goofball who bore more than a passing resemblance to a stretched out, moronic Bart Simpson mixed with whoever it was we were picking on (I forget who it was). Lyle's brother was named Glen and he was a complete mocking of one of our Speech/Theater/Grammar teachers, Mr. Roehrig. Glen was a closet... um, homosexual, and was constantly doing things that... um, reinforced that fact. It turned into a monster. We eventually gathered other artists throughout the school to do guest spots in our books, and even teachers wanted to read them. They were amazing. They were pretty ingeniously built, too. I would by a cheap, standard folder and a drawing pad that would fit perfectly in the folder, cut off the covers and glue it in. Each cover was a different color and everyone knew that every other week or so a new color meant new adventures. Those things were so much fun.
And there you have it! My life in High School as a sought-after artist. I miss that, sometimes...
For now.
In High School I was pretty much known for being able to do one thing really well: draw. Sure, I was abundantly proficient at writing; both for assigned work and just because I enjoyed doing it. But it was always drawing that made my circle of friends and acquaintances that much bigger. I don't know how it all started, since as I said, I was new to Paw Paw for High School and only knew one person from my Portage years, so it wasn't like I had friends who spread the word. It's possible I was in art class (a subject I always excelled at and was frequently given different assignments because I was just so much more adept at things... not that I'm bragging, but there it is) and maybe chatter started there and kids began to see what I was capable of doing. However it happened, it spread and I began doing as much as I could for everyone who asked.
If there was a big basketball or football game, I'd be brought on to design signs and banners. If prom or some kind of dance or extracurricular activity was the subject, I'd be asked to help draw that up. In fact, at one point I was in the running to change the logo for the school sports teams. Though I lost out, some of my input was used in the final design that ended up getting used. I designed a T-Shirt at one point, I was consistently on the yearbook staff helping with that, and I often helped less-than artistic teachers roll out some cool graphics for something or other.
In two cases of that nature I can remember, I helped my Spanish teacher and my Chem teacher. First there was Mrs. Howell, my Spanish instructor. I was pathetic and lousy at Spanish and I honestly didn't care. Well, my grade cared because it sucked. So, in order to get it up to beyond just passing, I was commissioned to draw up and write game cards for a Spanish version of CLUE. They turned out well enough to get used years later when my brother and sister each went through the class, so I suppose that was something. And I got a sold C out of it! The other was artwork of molecules and their workings like atomic weights and such for Mrs. McCarthy's Chem class. She was one of my favorite teachers and in this case it wasn't to improve a grade, I just did it because she asked. Word got around to other teachers and I'd do a few small things here and there, but those two were some of the more major achievements that I can readily remember.
But the biggest and, arguably, most famous artwork I was ever a part of turned out to be something I still hold dear and still have in my memorabilia collection. My buddy Paul and I decided it would be really fun to start doing an episodic comic strip based on characters we'd created who looked remarkably similar to a few students we weren't too fond of. Yeah, it initially started out as being kind of mean, but it slowly morphed into more of just good-natured ribbing, as well as gaining a life of its own. The Comic was called LYLE and it starred a tall, pimple-faced goofball who bore more than a passing resemblance to a stretched out, moronic Bart Simpson mixed with whoever it was we were picking on (I forget who it was). Lyle's brother was named Glen and he was a complete mocking of one of our Speech/Theater/Grammar teachers, Mr. Roehrig. Glen was a closet... um, homosexual, and was constantly doing things that... um, reinforced that fact. It turned into a monster. We eventually gathered other artists throughout the school to do guest spots in our books, and even teachers wanted to read them. They were amazing. They were pretty ingeniously built, too. I would by a cheap, standard folder and a drawing pad that would fit perfectly in the folder, cut off the covers and glue it in. Each cover was a different color and everyone knew that every other week or so a new color meant new adventures. Those things were so much fun.
And there you have it! My life in High School as a sought-after artist. I miss that, sometimes...
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