Becoming an Artist

Art School Assignment

While in art school at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) in 1983, we were assigned portrait drawing from images the teacher provided. He was a big The Who fan and offered four different albums among the image choices for the assignment.

I chose Kenny Jones, the drummer of The Who. The picture of him I selected is from the “Face Dances” album cover. To be honest, before the assignment, the band wasn’t really on my radar. I’d heard them on the radio, of course. So, I don’t know why I chose any of the albums for my project.

Learning to draw eyes like that began when I was a child. As I’ve mentioned before, I fixated on art and drawing from my earliest recollections. I could draw before I could write. Frankly, I was uninterested in reading or writing. In first grade, I invariably took to drawing on any writing assignments.

However, I learned to write before I could read. My initial go around, I failed the first grade because of it.

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