I’d rather look at these than a bunch of photographs any day.

Many years ago I worked around a bunch of comp artists. I had no real training as an illustrator so was consigned to doing airbrush backgrounds and paste-up. One day, a witness to my eager sketchbook asked me to do a little fill-in work. They handed me a marker drawing of an old man seated at a large upholstered chair. At the time the assignment was created, the chair needed only to show most of the chair, not all. The armrest on one side had been left blank and the AD asked me to complete it, matching style and color. I jumped at the opportunity to show what I could do. With the original art in my hands, I was astounded by the expression of life in this figure, the solidity of the chair, the beautiful color and amazed that it all came about with no reference to work from. When finished I found a quiet moment in the day to remark on how the illustrator did this beautiful thing without a photo to work from. He brushed me off saying, "I just close my eyes and start drawing." He was known to be cranky and I thought he made a joke at my expense. It was weeks later that I learned he in fact did close his eyes to VISUALIZE the scene and keeping that image in his mind, started to draw. When I am -even now, tasked with drawing from life I find it most difficult when everybody is moving around. I could draw this guy's head but when I look up, he's got his back to me and I'd have to imagine that side view with my imagination fading as quickly as water in the desert.

That's the background to my feelings about drawings like these. I've got nothing but admiration for anyone who can draw from life as it is happening.

Bravo!