I like drawings that leave something of the artist behind. Drawings that represent what the artist feels as well as what he sees. The marks on the paper in the end will look like the model, but at the same time the marks will still look like charcoal scratched on paper, identifiable marks, like a signature, that only that individual artist can make.
I like the spontaneity and lifelike quality that you can only get by drawing from a live model. I have done many drawings from photographs, but drawings from photographs look like drawings from photographs. The static lens of a camera sees something very different from our constantly moving, adjusting and focusing eyes.
My media of choice is soft compressed charcoal on large white paper. I used to tell my students, "Be bold, work large, make your blacks black." I try to take my own advice. Often my work is characterized by dark bold lines, that I then smear and scuff and scratch with an eraser and make them my own.
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