A big part of the praxis of portraiture is drawing the same people over and over.

You have to do it over and over, so you start to understand what characteristics make a face distinctive, what features identify someone. I had a teacher at Parsons who taught us that ear placement is critical, too!

Tom at Dunn Bros Coffee, June 1990.

Tom was one of my closet friends in early sobriety, during a year where I carried a sketchbook everywhere I went. He is a fellow New Yorker; we met at the halfway house after I finished my four months and while he was doing his. We become instant sobriety buddies and confidantes. Eventually he moved in for a while with me and my roommate Anita.

Tom at Dunn Bros. Coffee, summer 1990.

We went to recovery meetings almost every night, and went for coffee before or after.

Tom, outside Dunn Bros.

We spent a lot of time at the coffee shop!

Tom, right, and Evan, a guy I briefly dated. Summer 1990.

A sketchbook page from 1990 with a collection of heads, including two quick sketches of Tom.

I used to scribble and doodle and sketch in my notebooks, something I gave up completely after I became a courtroom artist and then a comic artist.

My pencil doesn’t move unless it’s work, since about 1992.

That’s ok, because I have delightful mixed media crafts and projects to play with!

None of these drawings had ever been photographed; until now, no record of them existed – if we had a fire or flood they would just be gone forever.

I am so grateful to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to take time to document my art archives.