About

This site began as sort of a nonsense blog with random tech-related posts, eventually featuring some artwork once I started back into the hobby in 2017. Over the last few years, portraits and drawings have sort of taken over, but I do occasionally write about other topics. My professional and educational background actually have nothing to do with art. I studied undergraduate biology at UT Dallas and got my MS in biomedical science at UNT Health Science Center. Most of my work life has involved research, software development, and specialized analytic writing. I’ve spent the last two decades doing research and development for a software company and as an analyst in the public sector. As you can probably tell, my primary hobby is colored pencil art, mostly portraits of people. The methods have changed over time, but I use a heavy layering and blending technique in most portraits to try to achieve a paint-like look. I’ve also written a couple of books; Pencils and Process, about my experience returning to art after 10 years, and Robot Family Adventures, a kid’s book about robots and dinosaurs.

Feel free to leave feedback on any of these pages or posts; that’s the best way to reach me, since I review and respond to every comment. And contacting through the Amdall Gallery social media profiles works too. I check Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter somewhat regularly, but the Tumblr and Reddit accounts are fairly neglected. I’ve removed the old contact page and discussion forums I had on the site, but like I said – comments or social media are pretty safe bets.

I have a few other sites out there, just because I enjoy messing around with this sort of thing. Some are duplicate tests of Amdall Gallery on other platforms, but a few are unique, like a review site called Armdog Reviews, the page for Amdall Publishing, and an experimental site called Shared Posts. If I ever commit to learning more about Android Studio and Java, I’ll eventually create an Android app or game and probably host a new site for it. Actually, since I’m talking about other links, here’s a list of sites I built. Some are for me, others I made for other people and turned over to them.

Built for other folks:

My stuff:

Also, I didn’t build it, but I have a link under “About Amdalls” to amdall.com. That site was made by a slightly distant relative of mine (grandfather’s brother’s son I think) who has done a ton of genealogical research into the surname, which is a somewhat unique one. It’s a good read, if you happen to share the last name.

Thanks for visiting!

-Jon

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