i wonder what would fill johnny’s sketchbook? tried to make a few chronological entries.
now i know that this is projecting my hobbies onto my fav but… i imagine that after his injury, as he was bedridden/unable to ride horses, johnny picked up a habit of trying to sketch them to satiate that need of interaction. although at times, being unable to correctly copy something frustrated him beyond measure, he surprised himself by enjoying it enough to continue practicing for the next few years. he never really attempted drawing people until the race, where so many interesting people were introduced at a time it overrode his general apathy towards them. his previous sketchbooks were quite crowded, as having no one to talk to necessitated he spend his time journaling. but the one he happened to bring to california ended up being far sparser in comparison, as having gyro to talk/listen to calmed that very angry, aching empty space where nicholas had been.
i tried to add a few spelling mistakes for the italian phrases bc he doesnt even know what a dinosaur is much less a different language so kind of sound them out phonetically,… translations for those in order are: “asshole,” “pizza 💔,” “baby blue (jeez i want so badly for gyro to give johnny this pet name its a joan baez song please go listen to it (i may make a sbr song post later pls anyone tell me if theyre interested in that i have soooo many)),” and “exctinct creatures that johnny doesn’t know exist bc hes a high school dropout”. also i do not speak italian so i had to look up translations for these things, please let me know if they’re wrong or bad.
finally it was really hard to try and draw in a different art style, and specifically one that would have been around in the 1800s… im not to good at realistic life drawing i add too much lineart but hopefully that doesnt take away from the vibe i wanted
please let me know if you have any suggestions for other pages of this, or if you’d want to see more in general ( i might think of stuff idk)
if u read to the end thx for enjoying 🫵💙🙏