Portraiture

One of my first and favorite subjects was the human figure. Starting with copying illustrations from books and studying favorite cartoon characters, I gradually honed my rendering skills by drawing from photographs and giving portraits as gifts to friends and family. I love the way drawing people and characters allows me time to connect with them. Growing up as a people-pleaser and introvert, I often struggled with social anxiety and preferred spending time alone. People were fascinating to me and I wanted to know them, but I didn’t enjoy conversation. So, I listened and watched. Drawing portraits allowed me to be with people without really being with people, and the people that I drew felt seen. It was a way of relating and developing mutual respect that suited me well. It was always a thrill seeing them gradually come to life on the page, with the movement of lines in their body, or as the darkening of the shading here and there slowly revealed their unique facial structure, or – still my favorite part – when adding the shadows and shine of their eyes. Although I am no longer weighed down by what made portrait drawing so therapeutic for me in the past, I still love capturing the likenesses and personalities of people in my art.