This was part of my Valentine for Marsha in 1990.  I had been working at a furious pace at the time. (I was in between McDonaldland Cookies and Halloween) I remember feeling that I had a rare opportunity to experiment and to try something different.  My other drawings of people, even the ones in which I was the model, had always been a bit rough.  Capturing a model's identity had not been important to me.  I can even remember feeling sort of proud that I was NOT doing that.  But here I realized that I would have to get it right if I wanted this to be Valentine material.

 

I worked from a very softly lit black and white photo that Marsha had taken of me a few years earlier in 1986. (It was one I thought she liked)  This is probably the last drawing that I did in the extremely small stippling style that dominated my early work. It is a good example of the blending and shading transitions that are possible in this style.  Most of the drawing is mid value; but tricky portions like the chin and collar area are possible with the flexibility one gets with small dots.  That said - the smallness of the dots also made it take forever!