Professional Portraits

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Sketchings of single subjects, groups or families or sometimes portraits.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. I encourage all customers to go to my website and view my work in order to decide if this is really what they are looking for. Art is like a culinary assortment and an artist is like a chef. There are high end chefs who work in five star restaurants and those who cook for fast food restaurants. Each has its own clientele. I would like to think that my work is considered to be the former by my customers.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Figure drawing requires each artist to devise a system of proportional measurement which will depict an accurate comparison of parts of the figure into the whole. Although this can get extremely complicated and technical, I have stuck to a simple formula of using the head of the subject as the block measurement for the whole subject matter. Of course, there is a different measurement scale when it comes to portraits.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. The buyer may need to consider what type of frame and matting will best complement the completed picture. Apart from this, the only other question would probably be the best spot to hang their picture.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. My work stands out because I am passionate about my art and completly absorb myself in every project I take on. I am also very detail oriented and will not rest until I recieve 100% satisfaction from my customers.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. I love being able to draw people in different settings. My art work is a source of enjoyment and stress release. I like drawing in the moment and captureing the different expressions and moods depicted by each subject. I feel especially privileged to draw pictures of loved ones who are deceased as the bittersweet emotions that these evoke are a priceless show of appreciation for my work.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. The most common question I get asked is how long will it take me to complete a particular art project. My answer to this is that each drawing presents its own unique challenges in terms of time and detail required. I usually devote anywhere from 3-4 hours for portraits and at least 5 hours for a completed group or family drawing.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Two years ago I was asked to do a drawing of a child care worker who had been killed several years earlier by one of his juvenile charges. I felt very priveleged to take on this task and did so without charging a fee for my service. I was later asked to present my drawing at the annual commemorative function given at the half way house named for him.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I can get so caught up in my artwork that sometimes hours may pass without me realizing it. I think my art defines me and gives me purpose, and wish everyone would do the same with their own area of interest. This would make our lives so much more interesting and replace the concept of mediocrity for exceptional in our performance levels and overall achievement.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I have always enjoyed drawing people and faces as far back as I can remember. Although I did not take any formal art classes apart from the usual high school art class, I have always been told I have a gift in this area and have even taught some voluntary art classes at the Leslie Peters halfway house. I have several drawings of family and friends and occasionally draw pictures of my co-workers' children at work.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. I drew a picture of the grandchild of one of the staff members at the half way house. The child, a boy about four years old, was seated on a large oil can and behind him was a background of cascading streams of a waterfall complete with the rock formation and occasional shrubbery. The little boy appeared to be on the verge of crying.The picture was in color so presented a challenge for me to replicate as a sketch in black and white. Although I started out with the intention of focusing solely on the child, I gradually incoorporated the background and was surprised to see that the pencil sketching did not limit my ability to portray the background effectively.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I enjoy browsing through artbooks at the library and have several books in my personal collection.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. I am willing to negotiate with my customers, but feel that my fee of $40/hour is a fair price.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. 50-75% talent and 100% dedidication is imperative for success in this area.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. What other areas would I like to pursue in art? I would like to experiment with watercolors in future and intend to enroll in some formal art classes next year.