Happy Birthday Comic Twart by Mr. Hawthorne

"Metal sharpens metal, right?"

That's essentially what my wife said to me after I rattled off all the reasons I gave her for wanting, and NOT wanting, to join the gents on Comic Twart. You see, Comic Twart began without me. Before the blog a few of the guys tossed characters around, drew them, then shared them on Twitter (One of these characters was Thor, who I chose to draw for Comic Twart's birthday since I wasn't there at the conception of the endeavor and didn't get to draw him with the fellas).

Having enjoyed that,the fellas decided to build a blog around a group of like-minded artist jamming on a new character every week. Before I knew it I was asked if I'd like to be a part of it. To be honest, I thought it was a bad idea for me to do so. I had a big graphic novel I was writing and drawing at Vertigo, Fear Agent to wrap up, a film to story board and a monthly Conan comic waiting in the wings (I also had a comic strip I wanted to start, which is still waiting for my attention... but that's besides the point).

So after going over all the reasons not to join my wife asks if there were any reasons I should join. I said that it would be fun and that it would push me to get better.

Which, if you know me, are my two biggest motivators.

I knew that I would be drawing things I'd NEVER draw on my own, (I didn't even know who the hell G.I. ROBOT before this!) and that would push me to work outside my comfort zone.

I'd also be drawing with a bunch of other guys who, although they were as busy as me, loved drawing so much that they were ready to jam. They were gonna have fun drawing, regardless of their work load. These amazing artist were also going to push me to try harder, and get better.

So, yeah..."Metal sharpens metal", indeed.

I decided to do it, and it's been one of the fulfilling and fun artistic experiences I've ever had.

Thanks for having me fellas, and Happy Birthday Comic Twart :-)

Best,
Mike