Jake's Sketches

I was just browsing on Jake's Photobucket account, looking at all the work he's been doing sketching, scanning and uploading his art to Photobucket. I asked him if I could show a couple off on the blog and he gave his consent!

Jake draws every day. He takes characters (pets) from his favorite website, subeta.org, and he sketches them w/human and animal characteristics. He'll be writing with his friends on-line, get inspired, leave the computer and head to his spot on the couch, next to the window, next to the view, and he'll go to work w/his sketchpad and pencil (and eraser!). He is highly discriminating about his art...he's always had those perfectionist tendencies...so this often causes frustration in his life. But he's usually able to work past his frustration (with the help of his biggest fan and yet most honest critic, his Mom! ;) and create really incredible pieces of art.

Right now he's exploring adding color to his sketches...again, his perfectionism, his *precise* vision in his head of how it *ought* to look, is getting in his way and he's not satisfied with it. I love it, though.

When I was in high school, I always thought the coolest kids were the ones that could draw. Everything was so compartmentalized in school...there were such definite lines that shouldn't ever be crossed. You were either a jock or an artist or a brain or a nerd. I wanted to be them all! And I'm thankful that in my children's *real* lives, lives not defined by school's standards, they DO get to think of themselves as being whatever they envision themselves as being. They are exactly Who They Are...and have always been celebrated for being just that.