Back when I was younger, around 1994 or so, my father made the suggestion that I use my G.I. Bill funds to attend the same college that he was at -- Florida Metropolitan University -- because they had a course on Graphic Design and Commercial Art.

Sadly, he passed away, due to complications of cancer in January of 1994, just one semester away from his own graduation. Nonetheless I enrolled and made it through the 2 year course and earned my Associate of Sciences degree (a proud moment for my life to be certain!).

During that time, one of the course classes dealt with learning to replicate a photograph in graphite pencil. The original piece I did was from a photo of John Wayne that I finished in two days. Since we were given until the end of five days to complete the assignment, I was given permission to produce a 2nd piece, using a different photo.

The photo I chose was one of Pop's he used for his passport, and I put some extra effort into it to really make it the better of the two pieces.

Sadly I've lost the original, but I was able to scan it, and I've kept this digital file with me for as long as I can remember. Figured it was time to post some of my college work here to share with everyone.

What do you all think?


Original Art by Myself / 1994
DO NOT COPY/TRACE/CLAIM AS YOUR OWN OR USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!