Mrs. Kindron

Finally, the last of the teachers' portraits for the year. Next year I'll try not to kill myself by putting these off until May. I hate stressing about whether or not I'll be able to complete the last one.

Mrs. Ball

Here's one of my youngest's preschool teachers, Mrs. Ball.

Mrs. Gutowski

My youngest son's preschool teacher, Mrs. Gutowski.

"How I Make a Picture" by Al Parker

For a long time, it frustrated me that I couldn't find much information about Al Parker, one of the greatest illustrators of the 20th century. I'd seen enough of his work on Today's Inspiration and 100 Years of Illustration that I had to know more about this man and his art. Fortunately, Mr. Parker, the "Dean of Illustrators" was also one of the faculty of the Famous Artists' Schools, so several of his works are used to illustrate concepts in the lessons. I was excited to learn that Mr. Parker even wrote many examples in the lessons himself.

But that wasn't enough. What I wanted was a book on Mr. Parker. Forget a book written by Mr. Parker himself - I knew that didn't exist.

Or did it? Actually, it did and still does - if you are lucky enough to have access to it. Fortunately, I work for a university, and through our library, I'm able to get pretty much any book available at a library or other university in the United States. That's how I was able to get my hands on "How I Make a Picture", the book that Mr. Parker wrote as a Master Course for the Famous Artists' School. The book exceeded my expectations - it's 189 pages written by the artist, and gives a complete, and I mean complete, lesson on, well, how he made pictures. Thank goodness for libraries; otherwise, you're looking at $225 to $850 for one of these babies, and they're certainly not easy to come by.

I'm now in heaven. Not only did Mr. Parker write this book, but just about every founding faculty member of the Famous Artists' School also wrote one by the same title. Imagine picking the brains of Norman Rockwell, Jon Whitcomb, Robert Fawcett, Stevan Dohanos, Austin Briggs, Harold von Schmidt, Fred Ludekens, John Atherton, Ben Stahl and Peter Helck. That's what these books are like. Man, I can't wait to read them all.

Mr. Patterson - Final

OK, so I'm under a little pressure to complete four portraits for my children's teachers by the time school gets out. Here's the first one, Aidan's teacher, Mr. Patterson. He's got a great face for drawing - lots of character. Hopefully I did him justice. You never know how they'll react. Mrs. Gleaves remarked that I put in her wrinkles, but she still liked it. We'll see what Mr. Patterson thinks when I give it to him next month...

Amazing Pencil Portraits 2

Now it can be told: my portraits of Aidan and Cole are featured in the new book, "Amazing Pencil Portraits 2" by Platte Productions! I don't have my copy yet, but I'm very excited about it, and honored to be included with such great artists! I guess I'd better start drawing again...

Miss Cynthia - Final

I finally finished my portrait of Miss Cynthia. Man, I really need to get a drawing table. I have to work on portraits during my lunch hour, so they take a really long time. The lighting at home is no good, and there's no room on my desk for portraits. Oh well, one of these days...

Miss Cynthia - WIP 1

I ran out of time at the end of the last school year and couldn't get a portrait of Miss Cynthia, my son's preschool assistant teacher, done in time. And I didn't have a reference photo I was happy with. I managed to find one and have spent a few weeks working on this so far - I hope to have it done in a week or so, and then I'll be able to give it to Miss Cynthia.


This is the first portrait I've done on Bristol Smooth paper, and so far, I really like it. I know it doesn't have much tooth, so I'm trying not to use the blending stump very much - only in the larger areas of skin to even them out.

Mrs. Lewis - Final

I feel kind of bad, because I had to rush to finish this one. I did the hair over the last couple of days and had to finish it up tonight to give to Mrs. Lewis tomorrow. Even if she likes it, I'll see the parts that could have been done better. Ah well.

Mrs. Lewis - WIP 1

Here is the last of my three sons' teachers' portraits, this time of my youngest's preschool teacher. Can I finish it by Thursday, his last day of school? Probably not, but I'll try.

Mrs. Harrison - Final

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was challenging for several reasons: the reference photo was poor, the ends of her hair aren't very well defined, her blouse has some patterns that I had a hard time with, my son's shoulder covered her right side in the photo, and I'm kind of rushed for time. I had hoped to do two more teachers' portraits by the end of the school year, but that's in only three weeks. I'll be lucky if I can do Grant's preschool teacher in that time, not to mention the assistant teacher. I'll do what I can, as long as I don't sacrifice quality.

Mrs. Harrison - WIP 1

I'm not sure I like where this one is going. I think I'm fussing with it too much. Part of the problem is I have a low quality reference photo to work with. In any case, I think I'm done with Mrs. Harrison's face. I'll start on her hair next.

Mrs. Gleaves - WIP 3

This is almost done. I think I need to do some fine tuning to add some definition to her cheekbones, and Mary suggested I tone down the dimple under her mouth.

Mrs. Gleaves - WIP 2

More work on Mrs. Gleaves' hair. Man, am I out of practice...

Mrs. Gleaves - WIP 1

Wow, it's been a long time since I actually sat down to draw something other than the things I do for my sons. After having taken my first drawing class, you'd think I'd be doing more of this!

Here's the first of a set that I'm working on - one for each of my sons' teachers. I decided to start with Aidan's teacher, Mrs. Gleaves, only because hers is the best photo to work with. I'm pretty much done with her face, and I'll be starting her hair next. I wasn't very happy with this to begin with, but it's growing on me. Once I added her eyelashes, it seemed to start actually looking like her. Anyway, I plan on finishing these before the end of the school year, so I can give them to my sons' teachers to thank them for all their hard work. Wish me luck.

Helena - Final

OK, well, Helena's all finished! I had a hard time with this, because her hair is so fine. I actually stopped it for a long time because I didn't know how I was going to approach it, but gave it a try and I think it came out OK. I finished it yesterday and gave it to her parents, who loved it. Helena's mom said she was going to cry, and they both just kept staring at it, and said they were going to treasure it forever. They're currently expecting, so they asked if I realized I'd have to do her sibling, too. I said I would, as long as he/she was as cute as Helena. I'm glad they liked it.

Helena - WIP 1

I wasn't intending to do this as my next drawing, but I saw a picture of my neighbor's daughter and thought it was adorable. I especially liked the innocent look and the lighting of it. I hope I can do it justice. This will be another surprise, since they don't know I'm doing it. I'm pretty much done with the face, but I may do some touch-ups. Next will be the hair...

John - Final

Here is John's finished portrait.

Eliminated

Well, I was hoping to particpate in the San Diego County Fair's art exhibition this summer. Since each participant is limited to two pieces in each category, I chose my portraits of Aidan and Cole and delivered them a couple of weeks ago. A jury selects the pieces that it wants shown, and, unfortunately, mine weren't among them. All I received was a form letter letting me know that my pieces were "eliminated". Ouch.

John - WIP 1

I decided for my next portrait to do my brother-in-law, who passed away a year ago. My sister-in-law has always been one of the first to see my drawings, and she has been very kind in her compliments, so I know this will mean a lot to her. I just hope there aren't too many tears when she sees it. I don't really like doing a portrait where the subject is looking directly at the viewer, but I only had so many photos to work with, and I want this to be a surprise. Unfortunately, I have a pretty low quality photo to work with.