The guy persisted, even though I assured him again and again that I wasn’t qualified. In the end, I relented because of his persistance and the assurance that I didn’t need to be an expert to teach a community recreation class. The subject was “Cartooning” and I was no cartoonist. I came up with a sequence of lessons calculated to stimulate basic art technique awareness as it might apply to the craft. To my surprise, most of the half that didn’t drop out the first night didn’t drop out at all. I went on to use what I learned in class preparation by illustrating hand outs for Sunday School.

About a year ago I took up a request by a website dedicated to a rare and unique little car to contribute to the site. What he wanted was exactly what I couldn’t do: cartoons. And wouldn’t you know it, they turned out just fine. I came up with my own ideas and built them from scratch. First on paper the old fashioned way, but finally in photoshop.

Turns out I was wrong about my ability and at first it held me back. I had assumed that real cartoonists could sit down and quick draw perfect examples of their craft. I could only do that when an idea came that was too hilarious to wait for. For me the truth was that I could make new ideas and any one of them could be ready for publication in about eight hours.

Now I’m a cartoonist and have contributed to the site for nearly a year.

So it is no surprise to me that I’ve suddenly changed my opinion about portrait work, which I’ve never considered a good fit. It could actually work, even though I’ve long felt otherwise. It’s nerve wrackingly precise work, frought with peril – completely opposite anything that makes artistry desireable. 

The rules I assumed to apply to cartooning excluded me despite that I was perfectly capable. I have been wrong about portraiture for the same reason. Within my own rules, it might work just fine.