I’ve sort of been avoiding dissecting this one for a while.  Mostly because it has a certain degree of “real world” attachment to it.  However, I’m fairly certain that the person who inspired the image isn’t reading the site, so I’ll roll the dice and dissect “Love Junkie”.
The actual sketch was a bit larger than my scanner, so this is camera-phone version. It was also a pretty messy sketch so I played with the contrast a bit to clean up the primary lines.  So you’ll have to forgive the image quality.

In some regards the imagery is almost too “in your face.”  If I ever go back and redo this one I’ll probably tone some of it down.  I think some of the best imagery is the kind you have to look for closely as opposed to the blatant kind.

It was an idea that had been swirling around my head for a while but a few months ago there was a course of events and a series of songs that sort of helped pull the image out of my mind.  I had been listening to Sixx A.M.’s The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack alot.  Obviously, it’s new material from Nikki Sixx, of COURSE I was going to be playing it to death.  Then I was introduced to Leona Lewis’ song “Bleeding  Love.”  Having never done drugs I couldn’t necessarily relate to Nikki’s story as junkie.  However, in unison, the two songs intertwined to describe something that I could relate to, thus, Love Junkie.

So the concept is pretty simple.  Putting your life on the line just to be loved, to NEED to feel loved so badly that it’s like a drug and you’re willing to do whatever it takes for that next hit.  You tie off your arm, you bleed all over the place and you just stick the needle in your vein.  Every time you tell yourself “this is the last time, just one more fix” and, yet, you keep reaching for the needle.  You keep plunging it into your arm.  You keep bleeding.

You know that one day, unless you do something to clean yourself up, to fill that void with something that ISN’T a drug, you’re going to die.  Like the song says:

“There’s nothing like a trail of blood
to find your way back home

I was waiting for my hearse
What came next was so much worse
It took a funeral to make me feel alive

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.”

So, in a way, this sketch was my metaphorical trail of blood.  The “funeral” was the end result of a few months spent lost in my head instead living my life.  I’m glad I finally got this image out of my head  on onto paper.  Sketching it out helped open my eyes…If music is my solace, art is my therapy.

Here are the two songs that played into the concept:

Sixx A.M.: Life is Beautiful

Leona Lewis: Bleeding Love

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