earlywork

Welcome to my "Early Work" page. This is the first time that I am displaying some of the art that I rendered when I was very young. I am proud to share my collection, and as you preview this page you will see a portion of the work that was the foundation of my interests, then. Now, you can better understand of how I and my art has evolved into a subject matter I render today.

Outside of learning the basics of art from my school teachers (plus the influences of some of my very talented peers), I remain self-taught. All of what I perceive during the coarse of my art career so far was (and still is) based on what interests me the most. To this day I still use some of the basic techniques & methods taught me by those teachers. For that I am forever grateful and thankful to them , sincerely. Be it any art medium, tool, influence, or subject matter; it all remains invaluable to me. Now, it is time to touch-on and share with you all some of those experiences...enjoy the journey.

(Pictured here (at left): (At the age of 14yrs old) I am watching one of my art teachers place an announcement on the wall for an art contest to take place at my school. Seemed interesting to me at the time.)

1975...and that is as early as it gets!...

As crazy as it looks, this self-portrait was nothing more than having fun with what I can make myself look like as a caricature. At the time that I made this drawing, I was celebrating my 17th birthday and my parents gave me a drum set as a gift. Little did they know what kind of "drummer from hell" I would become, for I was driving everybody in my family nuts while playing the drums in our house...sometimes all day, nearly every day of the week!! Banging & bashing, "jamin' to the sounds", I would listen to everything from the "Edgar Winter Group" to "Led Zepplin" ("Houses of the Holy" was murder!). Eventually, I got together with some of my friends from school and formed a band. My parents were relieved with glee when we changed from practicing in the living room to the garage. I guess that was a big relief for them, a little less ear pressure! Maybe that's why they made it to the gigs that I played...just lucky I guess!...ha! ha! ha!

The b&w portrait at right is that of Elvis Presley. This is the first of any pastel drawings that I rendered. In the beginning of my learning experience, I practiced with pastels for a while, but found them to be a little messy. Eventually, I was tired of trying to keep my hands and drawing papers clean of their use, and then converted to graphite pencils, thus relieving me from the frustration of pastel use completely.

Soon after drawing with graphite pencils, I noticed how much better they were to control ("no fuss, no muss" as they say). I soon gained the knowledge and the use of this excellent medium with more of a fine art attitude (plus the influence of my art teachers helped).

(Notice my signature on the bottom right corner of the art (then). I use to think of ways to sign my art work and thought if my signature was unique, then maybe a lot of people would remember my name..."J. H."?...ha! ha! ha!

The b&w portrait drawing at left is of vocalist/actress, Barbara Streisand (I rendered this drawing when I was turning the age of 18yrs.). This was an interesting subject to draw, aside her certain facial characteristics that make her look so special, this was an opportunity to strengthen my "free-hand" drawing abilities in a very controlled manner. I started to pay more attention to the expression or the mood the faces and/or objects transcending from the photo references. I would go back to some of my art books to study and refresh my memory of light, shadow and proportions to better understand what it is I am doing. A whole new attitude about how I wanted to draw began to take shape.

("Barbara" Graphite pencil drawing on paper, measuring 18" x 12". Dated 1976)

The b&w portrait drawing at right is actor, Telly Savallas. He was the principal actor portrayed as a detective on the hit television series, "Kojac". I was a big fan of this television program, and never to miss an episode.

Have you ever heard the cliche; "Who loves you baby?" Well...then, you can thank Telly for it! You now know where that saying originated.

Anyway (getting back to drawing), It was a matter of time when I noticed that rendering celebrity portraits were getting a little boring, so I started thumbing through different magazines from time to time to find other things of interest.

("Telly" Graphite pencil drawing on paper, measuring 18" x 12". Dated 1976)

("Blonde Nude" by Jon Hul 1976)

The nude portrait at left is the first of any b&w figurative study I have ever rendered. There is another interesting thing about this art...I shall explain...

It was my senior year in high school, 1976. There were only a few months of school to go before "finals" began. About mid January, I stayed home from school because of a sickness (nearly ten days)...."awe, bummer huh?" Anyway, I did a lot of resting and took medication to rid the terrible flu that I was experiencing. Finally, (getting over my sickness) I woke up from an afternoon sleep and discovered a flat paper bag placed on my nightstand (thanks to my responsible parents). Curious enough, I reached over and opened the bag and soon discovered a couple of magazines inside of it ("Sports Illustrated" & "A Well Known Men's Magazine"). (Needless to say) The rendering was the result of my discovery...and the rest is history.