I’m not sure at what age I became obsessed with drawing, but I was very young. Even in the first grade, at the end of every lesson, I’d look down and see my notebook, the one with the wide spacing and dotted line in the middle to help you learn how to write small letters and capitalized letters, would be covered in doodles.
Before I was ten, I was fascinated by those “Draw Me” ads in the magazines and comic books. Remember those with the pirate and cartoon turtle? I drew them a hundred times. Mom even mailed mine off to them once. Of course, we received a reply saying I showed true talent and was approved to take their art course, for money, of course. That was also my first lesson in another kind of artist – scam artists.
By the time I was 12, I had drawn everything around me: our cars, house, dogs, and even my family. When the fair would come to Fort Payne, I’d give a drawing to each of my sisters to enter in the fair just so we could all get a free ticket for admission. One year, my pencil sketch of John Wayne won a blue ribbon.
The first time I went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, I was fascinated by the fellow set up there drawing caricatures. I stood and watched for hours. As soon as I got back home, I started practicing until I could do them. One year, the city of Montgomery hired me to draw caricatures at an event for underprivileged kids. I drew over 200 that day, and my hand was killing me, but I loved it.
Over the years, I have created hundreds of drawings, flyers, logos, and just about everything you can imagine for friends. They always offer to pay, but I tell them I’m happy to do it. That’s not just a cliché; I really am happy creating art. It’s the only form of therapy I get. That’s my happy place.
In my mid-20s, I created my first comic strip titled Warp. I was a one-panel strip, much like The Far Side. It ran in the Times Journal and several other papers for years. One million bonus points, if you remember that.
Now I have a comic strip titled Brad’s Pit. It’s called Pancho el Pit Bull in South America, where it has been more popular. We just signed a six-book deal with Editorial Planeta, the largest publisher in the world with offices in 70 countries. And a production company in South America is making a test animation to pitch to Disney+ for a possible movie. How cool would that be?