Drafting Gallery detail, Sammy & Accordion Sammy & Accordion, 9 x 12", ink on paper, 1995 Drafting and drawing are the basis for all of my artwork, except for photography. Sometimes I even sketch for photographs too, if I'm designing a page that requires photographs to be taken. Most of my sketches are in pen, for a quick, dark line that's immediately permanent, to get my ideas down fast and to get a likeness of something that's moving, or to draw an area or person on location without taking a photograph. Pen sketches are easiest for that use because they can be taken on just about any kind of paper with any kind of pen or dark pencil, without the bulk of brushes, paints & water/oils or photographic equipment. African Rhinoceros Study, 18 x 24", watercolor on paper, 1995 Goat Study, 16 x 18, conté, pastels and pencils on conté-toned paper, 1995 I also use watercolors and inks to draw subjects even quicker than pen sketches, since I can fill an area with ink or watercolor quicker than hatching the same place with pen strokes. I created this study of African rhinos on site at the Baltimore Zoo in an hour's time, quickly rendering the major forms of the animals while they moved around their habitat. I also use watercolor sketches as the underground for larger scale paintings, and then seal the watercolors with a polymer plastic glaze for layers of oils that will flesh out the full, finished painting's shadows, colors and details. For illustrations, or logo comps, I take the pen sketches and make a more fully rendered pencil sketch, using a toned paper, like this wildlife study of goats to the left, which was made using several sketches made on location at the Baltimore Zoo. Toned drawings show a broader range of highlights and shadows than even watercolors, are much more detailed, and have the advantage of being eraseable. For some studies, I start off with a pencil sketch, and build the drawing up to a fully toned rendering, like this view of the boardwalks across the sand dunes of Lake Michigan. Graphite renderings are the most detailed and photorealistic of all of my traditional media. Michigan Boardwalk, 14 x 18", graphite & pencil on graphite-toned paper, 1996