Hi, my name is Kevin Haralson. I'm 20 years old and have been drawing/painting since at least the third grade. At first I didn't draw very well, and my art was limited to poorly-designed monsters on college-rule notebook paper. During middle school my imagination was snuffed out for a while, but came back strong in high school.

At one point I drew a new drawing every day (each one taking up the better portion of a piece of printer paper,) but that didn't last forever.

Although I try to constantly improve my techniques, the past three years have been artistically dry. I'm looking for inspiration again, in everything. Not just to improve, but to help me get excited about drawing again. If anyone is willing, I'd like to get a model's help on some things. Instead of the normal nude style of model practice, I need to focus on various facial features/expressions (particularly the nose) and clothing fabrics of all types.

My style is not typically realistic, but I've been told by numerous art teachers that even in abstract and surrealist artworks, (especially in my case since I try to use every so-called "element of art" no matter what) knowing how to use realistic elements is never a bad thing even if you intend to be unrealistic.

I tend towards surrealism with a touch of macabre, usually with a high contrast that often leads to me spending far more time shading the picture than anything else. But I'm flexible. If I feel that the picture doesn't need shading and needs more color, I'll make it work that way. If a simple cartoon style wins over a grotesquely detailed style, I won't complain. In the past I've tended towards darker works, but I have fun with lighter ones as well.

Off the computer mediums: pencil (usually soft types), pencil + colored pencil, pencil + pen (sometimes colored pens), tempera or acrylic paints.

I've used charcoal, clay, and watercolor before, but never got far with them.

On the computer: I use the GIMP program at the moment. I used to use OpenCanvas, but the techniques are the same on both so it doesn't really matter which one I use. I have a habit of drawing and shading with a brush size of only 0.1 pixels, which causes it to take some time in order to build up dark shades. I've recently discovered the "jitter" and "fade" brush settings, which opens up new, potentially quicker methods of shading and making textures.

I've used a couple of other art programs including some Adobe program (I think), and the free version of ArtRage. Again, didn't get enough practice with anything.

Sorry if the Bio seems lengthy, but I didn't know how to sum it up any other way. The website I have listed (my deviantArt account) is a little bare and new, but it's all I've got.

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