28th Anniversary

I just spent a couple of hours searching through art files and sketchbooks looking for what might be the first drawing of ZONE. I remember it looked nothing like the ZONE of today, or even the ZONE of 28 years ago. I couldn't find it but a few interesting items turned up, I'll share them all in due time.

The sketch below is dated 2•21•22•84 and was drawn one year after I had created the first ZONE strip (see the first entry of this blog).

From sketchbook four, 1983 - 1984

I had to mess with the levels in Photoshop to get my pencil sketch dark enough for you to see. Not ideal, but that's my curse for working with 2H pencils.

Yeah, that's what I looked like in 1984, I used a straight-backed wooden chair at my drawing table, I wore slightly tinted lenses in my glasses and used to wear a bandanna around my neck all the time. I was working part-time as a security guard for Wells Fargo and wore my hair as long as I could get away with.

ZONE, THIS ONE'S FER YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUB!