A gift of self
Posted: February 23, 2010
Portrait artist and third-year ASDOH student Eric Peters always draws people “because my drawings are always gifts given to people I love,” he says. “Nothing gives better detail than pencil, and nothing is more personal than a portrait. I love combining detail, realism, and a person.”
Despite his talent, he claims his creative philosophy “isn’t very creative.” In fact, he compares his style as similar to a copy machine. “My skill is taking a photograph and drawing it to look as similar to the photograph as I can make it. My philosophy is: ‘Draw what you see, not what you know!’ For example, hair is not made of a bunch of pencil lines, it’s made of shapes and shading. As long as I follow what my eyes tell me to draw, the drawing turns out looking pretty realistic.”
From Phoenix, Peters began drawing favorite NBA players in fifth grade and found his own style by the end of high school. “My friends and teachers made a big deal out of it, so I decided to keep doing it,” he says. “As I continued to draw, I got a bit better each time.”
Although his style and technique have improved over time, one thing that hasn’t changed is his drawing instrument – a broken blue 0.7 mm mechanical pencil found his junior year of high school. “I don’t really use an eraser, but I use a bit of that blue wall-sticking rubber to help lighten dark areas and smooth texture. When I draw, it’s just a quality piece of paper, my pencil, the eraser rubber, a piece of paper under my hand to keep from smearing, and a photograph.”
He estimates that each drawing takes anywhere from 30 to 50 hours to complete. “I actually don’t always enjoy the process of drawing. I’m a perfectionist, and it wears me out,” he says. “But it’s worth it to see someone light up the way they do. There’s no better way for me to tell someone thank you, or how much they mean to me than to give them a gift of my best talent.”
His talent, he says, also benefits his professional studies. “Although dentistry doesn’t require it, having an artistic eye helps a lot. I find that I use the same attention to detail in drawing a portrait and doing an aesthetic tooth restoration. Both drawing and great dentistry require a lot of patience.”