In one of my favorite shows My Hero Academia, the protagonist starts the first episode with something along the lines of “I forgot to mention this, but... this is the story of how I became a great hero.” - Kōhei Horikoshi. You see, my mind works by collecting a vast amount of references and putting them together in my artworks.
This was prominent in my early days where I would put together song lyrics, art work I'd see during my travels, and images found on royalty free websites.
So when I discovered Calvin and Hobbes in my online journey I was flabbergasted.
Here is a collection of graphics, not just one, of a child whose intelligence far surpasses that of many adults. With his philosophical thoughts written out in comic format came whimsical musings of the reality of every day adult life.
In typical fashion I drew a similar copy of Calvin as the first version. I always knew this wouldn't last. Firstly because I would want something that's my own, but secondly because the idea is Bill Wattersons' and I don't want to be sued out of existence. But it was important for me to just start somewhere. The very gesture seen here is almost exactly taken from one of the comic strips.
Which brings us to the current version that you see at the start of this article. I’m not sure at what point in my career will you be reading this, but at this time in my life my art has made me a grand total of a couple hundred dollars. To cross reference this data point, in 2024 I could spend that much in a weekend with my friends where I currently am living, in New York City. What I'm hoping for is this reference point won't matter much in the future, that I'll spend my days in an art studio drawing. Just like the character is. That's why this new version changes the character to have more of a smile because it's a joy to work on this. Additionally the new version has the character a bit less inclined into the piece, because the character is stepping back a little to look at the piece.
An iteration of this will always be my logo. A mixture of multiple reference points put together. And no matter what happens, I'll always be creating.