I am the LOST Stalker...

When I worked on the Disney lot, I would regularly walk over to the now-famous ‘Building 23’ on my lunch break, or when I was leaving work for the day.  For those of you that didn’t already know, (although you have probably guessed by now) Building 23 is where the writers of ABC’s LOST create the most brilliant, moving, engrossing television show that I have ever seen.

I would just casually walk by the building, (then loop around and walk by again... ...and again... ...just kidding!) hoping to God that I would “coincidentally” run into Damon Lindelof or Carlton Cuse (producers and head writers on the show - geniuses both) when they were leaving work for the day or heading to the commissary for lunch.  Alas, I never saw them, not once. 

I have so many detail-oriented questions that the DVD Extra Features and the Official LOST Podcast don’t cover.  I won’t bother going into those details here.  Those are for a different post on a different blog.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to know ANYTHING about what’s to come on the show.  I don’t even watch the ‘Next week on LOST’ promos that they run at the end of each episode.  I don’t want any answers or sneak peeks.  I want to enjoy the story as it unfolds.  I want to be left guessing.  The mystery is the appeal.

Somehow, despite the inordinate amount of evidence in my life, it took until just a couple of days ago to hit me that I am obsessed with this show. 

I never get tired of thinking about LOST.  I never get tired of talking about it.  I never get tired of reading about it or learning about it and I certainly never get tired of experiencing it.  It is, to say the least, a marvel.

This is not, of course, a novel concept.  The show has been collecting fans by the millions with its nigh-irresistible tractor-beam of mystery and full-gamut of emotional truths for four long years.  However, what I have learned about my paintings (not to mention writing) from this show is perhaps, somewhat insightful, though still not entirely original.  All of that will be covered in my posts on visual storytelling.

I was just coming down from an amazing art-buzz...

I had just seen some amazing concept art for the new Turok game over at ConceptArt.org and those beautiful paintings got me wanting to do something all jungle-ish.  Me plus jungles plus fan art equals...

The most basic level? I am obsessed with LOST, so I decided to do a piece of fan art.  : )

I haven’t finished a piece of fan art since I was like, thirteen years old. 

I did start a Star Wars piece a few years back but never finished (though I will tell you that I am currently rebooting that painting and it should be up here in the next couple of months). 

I decided last summer that I wanted to start doing more fan-art.  This is primarily because I used to love doing it.  There is a teenage boy inside me that will never grow up.  

I also want to put together a sort of fan-art portfolio and go after some geek-publishing work.  I want so badly to do some Star Wars comic covers or a cool pin-up of Batman fighting Two-Face.  If there is a teenage boy inside me that will never grow up, I might as well appease him and capitalize in the process.

But how do I create a painting, an individual image that does justice to LOST’s labyrinthine, perpetually-mysterious story?

(continued in part 2)