Stumbling Along the Road of Life

In a slightly maudlin frame of mind, 

it occurs to me, that time is running out on me 

and that 

all of the vague plans, ideas and aspirations of my youth, 

are probably never going to amount to much.

I suppose, that the larger question would be, 

"Does it Matter?"

These days, as an older person, I would have to answer truthfully and say, no it doesn't!

That is a point of view, that my younger self, would have had a great deal of trouble and were we to be in the same room together, a heated argument would probably ensue...

Something that I have come to understand, as my body has aged and I have lost a number of physical capabilities, 

is that an awful lot of our human desire, to push forward, in every sphere of our lives, is 

PASSION!

Sadly, I am almost passionless, these days and I am in awe of the younger me, who was SO passionate, about everything!

Oddly, in an almost ironic twist, I have a better understanding of and ability to draw, more interesting cartoons, 

than I ever could have done as a younger man

BUT

I lack any inner compulsion, to actually make new things and while I feel that I should, I am quite comfortable with letting things slide.

Sometimes, I would give almost anything, just to feel that old, "fire in the blood", that is passion

but then again, 

I wonder what I would make of it, 

here in this Brave New World of mine?

I found a few tutorials, in my travels, that I thought were worth a look and I am reposting them here for anyone who may have an interest

As a final note, I thought that this young woman, 

Lily Williams,

made the point, raised by many other artists and cartoonists, that doing work for FREE is not an option.

Strangely, people who would never think of walking into a restaurant and suggesting that, for a free meal, they would be willing to tell all their friends about the place, have no trouble at all, in saying to a cartoonist, I can't pay you but look at the EXPOSURE your work will get!

As I used to remark, that was all fine and good but my family can't eat exposure...

Which never went over very well!