Couturier Illustration

Since its new year I thought it would be a great time to actually write a new post. Considering I only posted all of 15 times last year, it’s pretty much a priority. Blogging, like anything,takes a steady dedication to get good at. It’s easy to get burnt out and get off track from tackling life’s daily tasks and drama. When your juggling so many balls your bound to drop some. That made me think for a moment about motivation, and where it comes from.

I’m an artist first, regardless of what my day job tells me. I consciously decided to make the most out of my particular talents a few years back. Motivated to express myself, to have fun and reach out in some way to world. Yet that motivation is not an easily maintained resource. It does come and go, no matter how strong your grasp might seem. Especially at the end of this year I kind of felt a bit adrift creatively. Then something happended, by sheer coincidence.

I’m on the internets alot. It’s a given, and hindrance sometimes (always?). I was browsing some post on twitter about comics and I saw a link to a title I hadn’t touched on in ages…Reid Fleming, World’s Toughests Milkman. As a child of the 80s it was a tremendous time for the direct market, and I couldn’t think of a more singular reason I wanted to draw than the comics I read during that time. In fact I would ride my bike from Hampton, NH to Seabrook to get my fix from Chris’ Comics . Sometimes even in the rain. The first two comics I purchased was a collection of EC horror title and you guessed it…Reid Fleming.

Reid is the creation of Canadian Hall 0f Fame cartoonist David Boswell.  It was to me everything Marvel and DC wasn’t, which is all I had really been exposed to at that point in my life. Pretty much any title that could be found at the supermarket or convience store. This was a work of art that was both mature and irreverant, and a product of love. Much of it went over my head at that age. Even so, for a kid who loved comics and had a desire to create them it was strong catalyst. I thought hey I could do this too. It was one of those moment’s where being a fan was inpsiring.

Years later my motivation to be an artist would spike, then slowly recede to almost nothing because of all those outside distrations. It was like I forgot that moment and all the others before it. Not just a creative spark, but the kind of pure joy and interest that motivates you to do something you love. While at this point I far from those days, seeing that old familiar name made me remember about those times and the motivation I felt.

I even visited the Reid Fleming site (awesome) and was flooded with memories of inspiration. So maybe it’s small things that keep the momentum going, the random things, the things in the past. Whatever it is, motivation is out there and if you just remind yourself you were a fan once it makes it that much easier, and gratifying to be a creator.

Tags: comics, Reid Fleming, the 80s