I don't know about you, but one of the Kickstarter stretch rewards I am most excited about is the Florid Sword/Shadowblade comic book. There's no way that can be anything but awesome. The artist, Jay Myers, is excited about it, too. Even before the Kickstarter was over, he was playing around with character sketches. If you follow him on Instagram, you can catch some of that play.
One cool thing that Mr. Myers has been doing is an illustration exercise called The 15 Minute Art Challenge, where he sets a timer for 15 minutes and then cranks out a drawing. BAM. That doesn't leave time for a ton of fine detail and shading and such, but he says he's found it to be a great way to improve his craft. He posts a lot of these pieces on Instagram (and his other sites). Some of what you'll find is inspired by The Hobbit and Bigfoot, but because he's gearing up to make us a comic book, there's a lot of Wingfeather there, too. The Wingfeather pieces are all still experimental—he hasn't settled on a style yet—but it's really fun to keep up with him as he plays. And, if you're also an artist (or you'd like to be), he's invited his followers to do their own 15 Minute Art Challenges and then tag them (#15minartchallenge) so participants can keep up with each other. (One of these participants is Aedan Peterson, who—by the way—is phenomenal.)As Andrew says, "Art begets community, and community nurtures art." That's visibly true in the way so many artists (writers, illustrators, and more, Mr. Jay Myers included) have come alongside Andrew to bring Wingfeather to life. It's fun to watch the process happen. And it's also fun to see what happens when one of these artists invites others into his process. Are you up for a 15 Minute Art Challenge?Either way, go check out Mr. Jay's drawings. :-)