These portraits from 1988 and 1989 are all from my sketchbook. Most of the models were friends from work or were students I asked to model to illustrate how to draw portraits.

I asked my students to use sketchbooks extensively because I wanted them to draw as often as possible. Waiting until you are in the studio makes sense for media that needs elaborate prep but drawing doesn’t. You can do it on anything anywhere.

I would demonstrate my use of a sketchbook by using them as models in the lecture portion of the class then have them do the same, using each other as models.

I wouldn’t often get very far with the drawings while they were actually posing for me, usually just a line drawing like you see in the first few drawings. But I would work on them later and show them at a later session to show how you can start with very basic lines and take off from there, even without the model being present.

I taught that there is power in focus. You don’t have to complete a drawing edge to edge, as a matter of fact, leaving most of it barely sketched in often allows the focus to be where you want it.

These may look pretty realistic to some but they really aren’t. They are a stylized realism, not photo-realism. I taught that an absolute likeness is not essential unless you are being paid to do that. If not, then you can and should feel free to compose and stylize as you wish. It’s how you develop your own look and style.

Individual style comes from adaptation of what is into what you want it to be. In my case I love definition, contrast and volume so I increase the lights and darks much further than they were in real life to achieve that.

In my opinion, no one needs a photographic copy of someone in a drawing. There is photography for that. The acclaim that comes from someone saying, ‘Wow, it looks just like a photograph!’ is nice, but in my opinion it’s just a gimmick unless something much deeper is being expressed (which is possible with photo-realism, I just don’t see it often).

And of course, my work wouldn’t be complete without adding in a cartoon image, preferably including my longest running characters, Singing Snake and Turtle.

Drawings and commentary © 1989-2021 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com