Working toward completion of a story has always given my work direction. Being a narrative artist, whether it's working on a graphic novel or a body of oil paintings, has helped me understand how to paint or draw my figures, and gets me excited to develop their own unique worlds. But if I'm taking a break from a job, like today, it's difficult for me to draw things just to draw them without understanding the story behind it. I get frustrated and they seem shallow, forced. But there is one thing I always love to draw, and I never get bored of them: portraits. I used to not be ok with that. I used to think it was formulaic, repetitive, uncreative. However, it is repetitive and formulaic only if you let it be so. I have finally realized I make each portrait unique. Each line has a specific place to go on each face, and each expression exhibits some invisible and personal context. I love portraits. I can draw them forever, over and over. And I think I'm finally ok with that. #figuredrawing #traditionalisking #archerdougherty #portraiture #prismacolor