Back to Basics

Ever since I cancelled my Adobe subscription, I have been replacing some of my Adobe projects on this website with hand-drawn versions of my own making.

My Italy trip was so memorable that I drew this map of the Roman Empire with historical details!

In addition to saving money, my other reason for cancelling my subscription is that its art assets felt restrictive to me.

As I have discovered, my own mind gives me freedom of experimentation and allows me to utilize my own cartoon style.

For example, I originally had an Adobe representation of a Native American myth from the Modoc Indigenous people of California...but I replaced it with my own sketchpad drawing.

Here is the Adobe project:

...and here is my new hand-drawn depiction:

Note the blocky appearance of the landscape in the Adobe image and the artificial look of the gradient used to represent the underworld...from which Kumush got the spirit bones used to make humanity.

Also, note how geometric the spirit bones look in the Adobe picture.

By contrast, my hand-drawn depiction of the story feels more natural.

Note the geological look of the cliff from which Kumush tosses the basket of spirit bones onto the Earth.

The cave entrance to the Underworld now looks like an actual cave.

Also, note that the bones are different sizes to reflect real height differences in people.

The writing on my sketchpad drawings is also more legible than the ones on my Adobe-produced images.

To send off this blog post, here is a little comic relief I imagined myself:

I already remember the verdant fields of Ceres! (i.e. the Italian countryside)

Of course I had to keep it authentic to ancient history...in addition to referencing my delectable Italian (in Italy) dinners.

Stay tuned as I continue to replace the Adobe images on this website with new hand-drawn versions from my own mind.