About the Artist: Nicole I. Hamilton. Commission Graphite Pencil Portraits from Photos and Original Pencil Art

Nicole I. Hamilton first discovered she could draw at the age of 14. She had always enjoyed art, but never really thought she had any particular gift for it. "I remember sitting in one of my middle school classes, bored silly. We had finished work for the day, and were waiting the extra 10 or 15 minutes for the bell to ring and signal our escape. I remember distinctly looking across the isle and seeing someone's Trapper Keeper laying on the desk next to mine. It had the Tasmanian Devil in 3 different poses dancing across it. I am not sure what prompted me to pick up my pencil, unearth a sheet of paper, and start drawing Taz. However, in that few minutes I discovered a talent I didn't even know I had. I looked at the paper when I was done, amazed to see Taz looking back at me. When I took the paper home to show my mother, she said, "Who drew that?" She was just as surprised as me! For some reason, it just came easily for me to draw what I could see. I really haven't stopped drawing since that day."

In the beginning she would draw mainly cartoons and Disney characters, copying Snoopy and Garfield out of the Sunday comics. She also sketched a few animals, but Nicole stayed away from people because she felt it was just too daunting. However, something happened that changed her attitude. "We were visiting family, and my Mom was telling my older brother how I could draw any picture I could see. He said, "Okay, draw me this", and took out his wallet and handed me his ID. "I can do anything but people," I said. This was a very small conversation, but it changed my thinking. I considered it a challenge now, and set a goal of learning to draw people."

Nicole's first attempts at people still looked a lot like cartoons. She was always a perfectionist, and so she kept at it, and gradually discovered how to draw figures manipulate graphite for a realistic effect. One of the first steps she took was to quit working with just a mechanical pencil. She bought some artist quality graphite pencils of varying hardness. Then she mastered shading and proportions, and started to develop her own unique style. Like many artists, Nicole's first drawings of people were based on pictures of celebrities. She then progressed to portraits of family and friends.

After developing quite a portfolio of works, she launched her web site to offer her portrait services to others.

"I enjoy working with photos to create pencil portraits because it captures the essence of a person in a single instant, be it joy, sadness, surprise, or even flirtation. (I still enjoy drawing my favorite celebrities for fun!) To me the eyes are one of the most important features of the face. As the old saying goes, "the eyes are the window of the soul", and they alone can speak volumes about the emotion of a subject."