BEING TOP OF THE CLASS...

Then bottom again, looking forever up...

Pretty much every comic artist you'll ever meet was the best artist in their school.

The stunning thing is that once you enter the comics industry proper you quickly realize that the professionals are so far beyond that level that it's actually a big shock to the system when you first arrive! It can be devastating, and many fall away, disheartened by that.

My art, too, was far below the level of ability I was aspiring to, and vastly below that of my idols. So much so, in fact, that there were plenty of long nights of the soul wondering if I would ever be as good as hoped or dreamed I might be!

At 57 I'm getting closer to the levels I set myself, but it's taken almost 4 decades of concerted effort and I’ll never reach that impossible, imagined summit of creativity I dream of. None of us do. Some creators peak early, and achieve astonishing levels of brilliance in a very short period of time. Many of us, though, will only get there by doggedly reaching for the stars and never, ever, giving up. But few get as good as they hoped to be, and none reach fabled perfection.

But it’s the never-reaching that drives us onwards, and it’s ever-reaching that enables us to keep improving.

In short - don't ever be disheartened by the brilliance of those who have inspired you. Let them be a a guiding light, and not ever a standard by which you judge yourself.

In the end we can only be the best version of ourselves, and that is always better than being pale imitations of those we might call legends.

A piece of early work done during my formative days with Sir Don Lawrence, 1986.