Me Time

Western Suburbs, Chicago: So there I was, on the commuter train towards my destination of work in the city. The typical train only measures about 10 feet from side to side and within such a short distance there were 8 humans--strangers--each doing our own thing. Some choose to sleep, many are on their cell phones or laptops and others rustle their newspaper. And then I was there with my sketchbook trying to capture it all. I have done several depictions of people on the train, looking for the subtle differences inherent in each life form.

For this sketch I roughed out everything with pencil, then traced over the pencil with Uniball Vision Micro. Once back at my studio, I scanned this sketch and colorized it in Photoshop (which I might add still takes an artistic eye and hand skills). For me, Photoshop is just another set of tools that allows me to add color (without the clean up) and does not replace the ability to see and capture a moment in life.