1: The most important drawing is the next drawing.
2: If the wine is no good, throw it out!
Both are basically his philosophy on work ethic. I'd watch him eat a stack of paper making sketches for a single likeness, most of which I'd drool over, but he knew his standard and wouldn't settle. He also was a believer in not falling in love with a drawing if it wasn't the right one.
Now here is a story of me not heeding this advice.
Normally when creating a rollover I have a plethora of imagery to think about and skew to my whim. Usually a holiday is associated with its own managerie of icons, mascots and folklore. This time, however, I was tasked to create something for the obscure "Pi Day" (aka 3/14) celebrated by math fans everywhere (or maybe just MIT.) So, what do I have for Pi Day? The irrational number starting with 3.14 and the symbol π. I had to relate it to something Tor.com would be interested in, so something scifi/fantasy/literary/comic booky. I thought something that was a classic riddle in stories could rollover to reveal the shapes in π. My buddy, Frank, mentioned the Mad Hatter's Riddle "How is a raven like a writing table?" which is a riddle with no answer (the Mad Hatter is mad). Seemed like a good excuse to do an Alice illustration.
My first clue that I was on the wrong track should have been that I'd never heard of that riddle.
But I went for it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbjWcgwUf5GyDLIN2NzZB24sSiqbUf9wXbK93AYcQUL9FEHg1Di8iPWdDWQYGFudLDNoN4olW_hDE8mM4OHzk-r9FQ0wYJ3K3hyphenhyphenokVvqmYV0qoCobXA_MRa6JYfXKax5gXyNU4C2mksXW/s400/thumbrough.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ixtqC7L5iGhu7LfUrtfXY3fXsueU7zKdWMFH2WUlw9HWwYjh0CgtF9HoCwLMniXlg31LeUByd3HLl17pGbdeoQs1gvHCqzwy3vTTIvyxBw9U4YAIdXmID8K3NhiNjDzezNOleEvFdAX2/s400/PiShape.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitC9JdUrZZwJShoow2mW_DN0ifHBb3WCE3acE5_8pVWib1ksANAuIylt06OJP3KTQ0vRvqtm3TGHoKYl7YBFfXPuEIT-aGlZ81AIFU2oZDoowPB06isoiEbmjG01x8C-cV-kafJ-At2m3A/s400/draws.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3KRfypYsPlblkHfasTGZJxpIz6BROW-S7SQoMFIYq03SUorU4yPYljUXfQeyXKWFC2uewLc-FnsSolK0kqnYemOXHeLLkjg7w1kcfpq3DdaiGu1HcNDUWv9X3-7MyPpH9ZSP_5jJ1vD1/s400/abandoned.jpg)
So... even after committing to paint every-effing-one of those cards accurately, I knew it was toast. I had to start completely anew. (notice the creases from when I threw the painting out, only to dig it out of the trash to blog about the experience)
Now, with much less time to work, I rethought my whole Pi dilemma. In about three seconds I realized the word Pi was extremely accessible and had a much better idea involving the Pied Piper.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4B7tYPn2DO06lSC5LgJz5MluVlBkc_eU1GO0QIvh9Eiibl7CpSFh_s8Zd8xAjVtZCWo3NNXygrfPLV6mdDmXLhUaOitqB6itzNLnv-UcQWqUzZ4XNnCYh3Ms2_QwOjcf2rYaNTXk16jAx/s400/pipersk.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8vq4cIMKiyCDpoDtYMlTbVVh7-W0Sx6U9NaVwSfcRGyXv90jufHwzKQEjUkRn1KC2tra0bYvckwyBWGacimso5BvESRGZz4F1-x94YBt5VVZQ4K9AAXhdDt-h3bjTKSF1Qfs63Wsuw_8/s400/Pied%CF%80perfin.jpg)
Moral of the story: Don't fall in love with an image if you know it isn't the right one. A pretty illustration that makes no sense is a bad illustration.
-S