A bit of backstory to this one. After buying myself a Wacom Cintiq 13" HD tablet (much to the financial expense of my poor mother) in 2014; combined with the fact that I had not got into the university course I'd wanted and was about to be stuck in a 2-year college art and animation degree, I decided to try and get into digital drawing. Well I lasted 3 months at the course, plagued by an insidious sense of profound dissatisfaction, and only drew 2 drawings (both copies of photographs). I had plans to make a huge digital drawing from my favourite planet from my (second) favourite computer game - Obani Gemini in Ratchet & Clank 3. I got approximately 50 hours in before I gave up. Fast forward nearly 6 years: I graduated from my environmental science course with a 1:1, got a job in the sector, made a complete U-turn in just about every aspect of my life and will be moving out of my mother's house for the second time at some point soon. When I got back home permanently in summer last year, I decided to finish this drawing once and for all. It has sat, waiting on my laptop(s) for all of those 6 years, looking back at me like the elephant in the corner. It has been a massive challenge, taking up at least another 150 hours, perhaps bordering on 200; consuming multiple weekends and weekdays, forcing me to re-learn how to draw after such a massive hiatus and testing my patience to its limits. Although there's still many improvable aspects, I deem it completed. There's tons of little artefacts which tell you I was never particularly adept at drawing, particularly form-wise and in 3D space. Nonetheless I am immensely proud of it and have ordered myself a frame. It marks the final bucket list challenge I set myself all those years ago which entailed me perfecting all the games in the series (completed in 2019) and finishing this drawing. I no longer play computer games, however I enjoyed them while they lasted, and they formed an enormous part of my childhood. Alas, there is life beyond them and other challenges to face - let's hope the next are less tedious!
