I was a bit awestruck by a photo my cousin Stephanie posted to her Facebook page, of my grandfather’s hand with my late grandmother’s wedding ring on his pinky. Besides the obvious poignancy, it was the first time I had really paid attention to the innumerable folds in his century-old skin. And I realized it would be a whole lot of fun to draw.

After about an hour of drawing, I looked down at my own hands, and they seemed completely smooth and boring and devoid of character. Crossing my dainty fingers that I can someday wear hands like Tata’s as a badge of a long life well-lived.

Guess I was in an arts and crafts mood today–I created a custom comic strip sketchbook using a cheap notebook from Staples, and mailing labels printed with a basic template for sketching rough layouts to be scanned and inked. I can also used the lined pages to work out dialogue and plotting.

Now I just need some ideas.

This (to the limited extent of my rendering abilities) is the face of my Nana as a beauty queen in the 1930s. And although she died last night at the age of basically 95, genetics dictates that I see a shadow of this face every time I look at my sister, cousins, aunts, and even my girlier uncles. And who knows, maybe it’s because they see a bit of Nana in themselves that they do their best to carry on her ageless exuberance, nurturing manner, and sharp sense of humor. We’ll never quite match up to her, but she gave us something to aim for, and that made us who we are. If you’re reading this and feeling sad, feel lucky instead–and keep aiming.

Here’s my Great Great Great Grandfather with my Great Great Great Great Grandfather. Holy sheez, this is an old picture! I’ll verify the exact date with my Aunt, but it must date from around the time of the Civil War (although these Mexicans probably weren’t worrying about that).

Obviously I have no idea what these dudes looked like, so I used some artistic license, and photos of my Dad and Uncle Bobby for reference.