These drawings were all done in pencil, photographed using a Samsung Galaxy S7, then somewhat straightened up and possibly cropped.  I still have most of the originals.

I’m not certain about when they were all done, unfortunately I didn’t mark the backs with dates.  Generally though I think, when I was younger, my drawings were done with a more severe and almost scribbled style.  I did not measure proportions early on.  I would compare those earlier items more to a signature; you know what it is and it works, but doesn’t necessarily follow conventional/consistent lettering styles.

More recent works are significantly more structured.  I measure proportions (sometimes literally with a ruler), and take care to approach realism as closely as I can.  In these more mature (in my opinion) drawings even sometimes have a few still-visible grid marks.  Is that cheating?  I do actually have mixed feelings about that.

For each drawing on this page, I tried to include some details about the subject, method, or other general background information.  I have included others without these descriptions on the “Other Sketches” page.

I have to admit, this picture is not an original. I “borrowed” the scene from an English Literature book I had in college. I did not measure or grid it for proportions, despite the fact that the source work was fairly small. Because of the free-hand way I started it, I felt quite satisfied with the final product.

I took this from a younger photo of me.  I was probably 18 or 19 in the picture, but I worked on this a few years later.  For some reason, I scribbled some cartoons on the back of the page afterwards; I have no clue why I thought that would be a good idea.  You can probably see some faint speech bubbles or explosions in the background.

I’m not sure what the look on my face is all about, but clearly something isn’t sitting well with me. Indigestion? Difficult Cowboys loss? Judging by the probable time period, the latter is more likely…

I can’t really remember much about this one. As I recall, the subject was someone in an art class who was patient enough to hang out by a trash can and throw something away for like 30 minutes. World record for most lengthy paper toss of all time, probably.

This one was definitely planned using a grid, and was taken from a newspaper photo (Dallas Morning News, most likely). It was during a time when the Dallas Stars played championship-level hockey, so I’m thinking it couldn’t have been within the last ten years.

This is Mike Patton, the most talented musician in history.  I became a huge Faith No More/Mr. Bungle fan towards the end of high school, and Patton gradually became my favorite artist of all time.  I think this one is based on some concert image from the Angel Dust album era, and I probably did this in high school.

I don’t remember who this is, but it looks like it’s probably from a magazine advertisement. I do recall this picture representing sort of a transition from the semi-sloppy scratchy style I had to focusing more strongly on detail and realism (to the best of my ability, anyway).

This one was done without measuring, and nudged me towards my tendency to plan and grid.  I couldn’t get the eyes right, and it was frustrating.  I’m sure you can see that one eye is larger than the other, but I was having problems getting a natural look in the bulging eye.

Another oldie, starring…uh…an oldie. I don’t have any particular fondness for Alfred Lord Tennyson; I basically just thought he was a cool looking old man. I tended to draw a great deal of old people when I was younger. Strange thing for a teenager to draw, eh?

A woman waiting for a train, and I’m reasonably certain that is supposed to be Gwyneth Paltrow. Who is she waiting for? Duh. Shaquille O’Neal, obviously.

Once again, I don’t have any strong sentiment for this person specifically.  She is a fairly solid actress, from the roles I’ve seen her in…but that has nothing to do with the drawing.  She became the subject simply because I thought it was an interesting scene.

Yeah, obviously I like to draw people. But kittens are cute, and so are dogs, so I couldn’t ignore them. This picture involved the usual measuring and whatnot, but I feel weird about the cat’s leg still. I thought it made sense, given the perspective, but every time I look at it I think we need to take kitty to the vet.