Trapped in a Box

I drew this for last Saturday’s Super section of the Inquirer, “Drawing Inspiration” (April 5, 2008… thanks, Katrina and Pam!). Actually, I did about four other drawings that had other ideas on them last Wednesday evening. Every illustration started out good, but I couldn’t feel inspired enough to finish them. Some of them would’ve sported superheroes and a semi-realistic style, while others started out as surreal, fantasy-inspired pieces. But I had to stop because I wasn’t feeling them.

I was about to quit drawing altogether that night. I told John over the phone that the muse just wasn’t there at that moment. I was assigned to do that cover drawing, something that’s supposed to visually represent Super, and I couldn’t think of anything that I could finish. Then John said the words, “Think out of the box.” That was all I needed. He actually had some ideas that beget other interesting ideas after saying those words, but I didn’t think about them anymore. I just knew what I had to draw.

I opted for a cartoony style, and this is what came naturally. I did this on a comic book backing board. For me, Super is about ideas, thinking out of the box, thoughts that can be big, analytical, appealingly alien, or monstrous… a section prepared for, and by, those that are different, hence its title, “Thinking Outta the Box.”

That’s what the drawing above is about. I enjoyed doing it. Thanks for being intelligent and for being the muse, John.