Lew Wallace Detail shot

This is a detail shot from my latest drawing of Civil War soldiers. I completed this today and am really happy with it. I have done some research on the soldiers I am drawing and Lew was not only a war hero and general, but he was a writer as well. I was at a friend's house the other day and when I mentioned I was drawing these Civil War figures, he asked if I was going to draw Lew Wallace. I told him I was in the process of drawing him and he pulled down the dvd of BEN HUR and showed me that Lew Wallace actually wrote it!

The main reasons I love drawing these people...these historical soldiers, is because of the quality of history and experience that shows on the faces of each one. There is always depth and when there is depth and intelligence, the experience of capturing that person's essence becomes more interesting and more rich for me. These men are in the very fabric of our country and in our collective experience as Americans. Capturing their beauty and integrity is foremost in my mind. I hope you enjoy them and I hope that these touch an inner part of you in some way.