For my day job I do a lot of period illustrations (1930s-1940s mostly). I have (on loan) a battered primer from the 30s that I use to get an idea of the clothing and I also rely on  blogs dedicated to old advertisements and photos. Beauty Is A Thing of the Past has all kinds of great photos from hair dressers magazines that are fantastic in figuring out how to style hair. And Found In Mom's Basement is a terrific source of vintage advertising. I've learned a lot doing these illustrations.

I've also done a ton of Amish illustrations. If you're ever up in Shipshewana, IN you can look out for the Childhood Chuckles, Farmyard Funnies & Thoughts with Thelma book series. The first two are collections of stories sent in by (mostly) Amish people and the Thelma series is a series of stories by a local Amish wife and mother who lives on a diary farm.

All of this is great fun and I adore it. But sometimes you just want to draw something modern.

Quick Sketches

Drawing the people around you always elicits a certain amount of paranoia. People know you sketch. They know you sketch people. They also know you've glanced at them no fewer than ten times in the past 60 seconds.

Fortunately there are some settings when, no matter how positive they are they're being sketched - they just can't do anything about it. Classes. Ceremonies. Waiting Rooms. They can't leave. Confronting you is awkward. Tada! Sketch subject!

Vampire Weekend

My youngest sister asks me if every person I draw is her. Unless it obviously is her, in which case she asks if it's someone else. Fangs seemed like an appropriate response.