look i drew you!
20 years of drawing faces
Portraits for individuals, publications, and collaborators. I remain open to commissions, exchanges, and creative conversations.
Story
lookidrewyou! was created in 2006, during my final semester at NSCAD University. At the time, I was immersed in large-scale charcoal drawings and was using an eraser to draw with, pulling light out of the dark. Working large, on paper mounted to a wall, I developed a repetitive wrist injury that abruptly forced me to stop.
Living with many roommates at the time, sleep was hard to come by on most Friday nights, so I would sit at my computer, drawing people’s profile photos on MySpace. Eventually, I had made enough portraits I thought they should live somewhere. I created an anonymous MySpace account for the drawings and began befriending the people I had drawn. Once they accepted, I would post their portrait on their profile and jokingly say: “Hey, look! I drew you!”
Watch out! I’m stealing your profile photo!
custom portraits for West Philly Scrub
Over the years, Look I Drew You continued to evolve. What began as quick 5 minute drawings gradually expanded into editorial work, collaborations, and commissioned portraits. A few drawings found wide audiences online, including one that appeared in Rolling Stone.
The work became more politically engaged, reflecting the world as it changed around me. During moments of collective reckoning, portraiture became a way to sit with grief, anger, and responsibility, and to acknowledge their lives through my art.
Though the work has become more polished over the years, I still feel connected to the looseness and simplicity of the early ink drawings. They shaped my voice for many years, and I continue to return to them.
Today, lookidrewyou! exists as a long-running, evolving portrait practice. It has shifted in response to injury, changing platforms, and an industry increasingly shaped by automation and artificial intelligence. As opportunities have narrowed, I have returned to the core that started the project in the first place: adaptability, exchange, and connection.
View many more portraits on my Instagram and ye olde facebook page