Y' found it!

Thank you so much! I’m grinning ear-to-ear over here. :D

I mulled over your question a bit and my answers are still all over the place. On the one hand I want to wax on and on about how important life studies are (for speed and general knowledge), on the other I want to emphasize how important a foundation in cartooning has been (for knowing how and when to simplify), and on the third hand is some long rambling speech about trying to forget all of the above and just enjoy drawing for a bit. 

Art is...so many things at the same time, it’s a bit of a mess. A specific thought I keep coming back to, though, is how much the simple ballpoint pen has helped me out over the years: it forces you to run with ‘mistakes’ that you may make early on in the drawing and make use of ‘em instead of getting stuck erasing every attempt at a line.  

As for recommendations, here are three artists I’ve stared at, copied, and emulated a lot when it comes to line and construction:

George B. Bridgman (big pdf link!) - His books on constructive anatomy are just a godsend, particularly to people like me who tend to fall short on rote memorization. He breaks everything into manageable (and visually digestible and replicable) shapes and it all makes a whole lot of dang sense. 

T. S. Sullivant - Please view the drawings on this blog in high-res- this guy’s inkwork, hatching, and combination of caricature and realism is just the best thing. ;;  Pay attention to how good the silhouettes are, even if the shapes of the figures themselves are exaggerated or presented at a strange angle.

Heinrich Kley - ...I’ve had such a raging crush on this art for so many years, CAN YOU TELL? Swoopy loose lines and animals standing up!! More seriously, I’ve got such admiration for how Kley manipulates human and animal form into such odd positions while keeping the bones intact, haha.

...and there are so, so many more. I wanted to branch into about six other artists while typing about the first one, and now I’m itching to make a more contemporary list!

More OC nonsense! So far: Short Punky Ferengi Lady* has roped a small crew together on her (totally legal and fiscally legit) quest to find a rumored remaining stash of Jevonite in/around post-canon Cardassia. Cardassian Defector Pilot is unsure about all of this, despite defying her own government for years.  I don’t know Tall Ferengi Guy’s motivation in all of this yet, but eyyy that’s the fun part.

Kai Winnnnn

Neelix is a hyena-lookin’-thing now,  I guess.  

Jadzia being infectious ❤️️