Gabe here. One thing folks might not know about me is that I used to draw as a kid. Quite a lot actually. The other day Meg and I were going through our closet when we came across a folder filled with drawings from my childhood. Didn't even know I had it. Got quite a laugh when I opened it up.
I never draw now. Kind of a sad story, which I'll tell in a sec. But first, here's some of my better work, which was probably made when I was around 10 or 11. I guess I thought I was going to create a new comic strip or something.
And here's some random drawing from around the same time. I thought this was so cool when I did it. Hindsight is an amazing thing. It provides a lot of discernment. Notice that this a signed edition.
But before any of this stuff, I was addicted to drawing these little action figure/super soldier type guys. I used to be really into G.I. Joe, so I suppose that was my inspiration. But these dudes are actually my reason for not drawing anymore. Now I know my timeline is off a bit, because the comic strip stuff came later, but, ultimately, it's because of these guys that I no longer pick up the pencil. As you'll see below, I created a profile for each person, with ridiculous stats and listings of each character's specialties. As if these aren't bad enough, I realize now that the drawings are pretty awful as well. Here is a small sampling (it really is small--I have lots of these), and then I'll tell the rest of the story:
Here's a really original one. Might even be copyright infringement or something. I didn't know any better.
And sometimes I wasn't satisfied with just the regular drawing of a character--I had to have "action" shots as well:
So, finally, the reason I stopped drawing is because I once drew this one really amazing character named "Samurai Joe." I think he was from Japan. That's pretty normal. But can you guess what his specialty was?
Nope, not fighting.
It was eating pizza.
Yeah, once my older brother saw that, he just had to make fun of me. And who can blame him, really? It was pretty darn stupid. At the time all my dreams were crushed, though. I just remember crying and throwing half my drawings in the trash.
Unfortunately, Samurai Joe doesn't seem to be in the folder. Oh well. He's probably better off wherever he ended up.
It looks like I did try to get back to drawing, perhaps after I realized that human beings actually have joints and definition, but you'll see from the sketch below that I didn't get very far.
I know my brother is reading this, so, Seth, I want you to know that there are no hard feelings. Honestly. I'm over it. Besides, I'm thinking I can sell these as classic, collector items now and make a pretty penny. We'll see who's laughing then. Here's what I think each will fetch.
Comic strip character head shot: $5,000
Complete "Bob and the Lion's Cage" comic strip: $10,000
Solo action figure: $100,000
Solo action figure and "action" shot: $1 million
