How it all started
My daughter Alex, then 13, asked me for some tips on drawing portraits. She had two posters on her wall- Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco, both Rolling Stone magazine covers, and she wanted to learn to draw from them. So that's why my early drawings of Pete and Patrick are from that photo, you see. The first portraits were done with pencil (graphite). My switch to charcoal was due to my frustration with my scanner, for one. Graphite has a tendency to get shiny when heavily applied in dark areas, which was not what I wanted. I switched to charcoal pencils and found the best of both worlds- beautiful matte blacks, the ability to draw with white, the lovely smudginess of charcoal, similar to pastels. Feel free to ask me questions about my technique and materials, I'm happy to share. I've also gone on to explore portraits in oil, and my intention for the next year will be portaits in mixed media, where I can bring layers of meaning into my work. My daughter can draw a decent portrait now, but her real love is making music, which I totally respect.
So thanks to my daughter Alex, and all my friends on DeviantArt who support and follow my work (>55k pageviews!) my gallery of Rock Bands and Guitar Heroes portaits has grown. I have an immense appreciation of all the good that music has inspired in me. I love that she continues to introduce me to new music, and that I remain open-minded to enjoy it. Good music should be ageless. And I do respect all kinds of music, though I'm still most influenced by Rock N Roll. My personal music history starts back with the Beatles and the Woodstock era, and Led Zeppelin, but I feel equally excited about so many new artists these days.
