The only way I’ve been able to deal with the guilt of abandoning my sketchbook so many years ago is to immerse myself in the work of other illustrators. I have certain affection for pencil heroes, and I just recently discovered that an old classmate is still drawing and making a living at it. In all of my schooling, I was always surrounded by a ton of talent but I’ve found that not many are still honing their gifts. Mike Schley - always known as the best pencil in life drawing class - is still at it. And in a recent Facebook reconnection, it seems he’s been working in the gaming scifi-geekdom world that I still hold dear to my heart even long after being gone from the game company Decipher.

His body of work is rich with characters, stories and detail. But it’s not just his ability to scribe these shapes and lines on paper, but more his ability to understand a story from concept to visualization that amazes me.

Here’s the intro to his exploration Journal/Blog entitled “Strange Shores”:

“As an introduction, I think it would be useful to explain the purpose of this journal and why I feel the need to add to the endless stream of content pouring from your screen. First and foremost, these notes will serve to document what I am convinced is an aspect of our world that is as undeniable as the sky above us or the earth beneath our feet. Though they may seem to stretch the limits of imagination, whether you believe my stories or not carries less weight than the possibility that in reading them you might find yourself transported to a place where the division between what is real and what is imagined is a bit less clear. There are places in this world where the modern skeptical mind cannot travel without risking it’s hold on what it knows to be true. It is the exploration of these realms to which this journal is dedicated, so grab your hat, we are headed for Strange Shores.”

I’m going on a “Sagmeister” and relocating to Mike’s imagination for a few years…with my sketchbook.

After all of these years, I’m still amazed by Mike’s work but more about his ability to endure an unstable industry for the love of what he does. That to me is the magic compass.

View Mike’s work:
http://mikeschley.com/