this is my wife Lisa and I. i am the one on the right. the occasion was the second time I was nominated for a Harvey, and the second time I lost it to Dave Sim. i was nominated for an Eisner this year, which i lost to Todd Klein. i was nominated for a Wizard Award a few years ago, but i can't remember who i lost out to that time.

i did my first professional work in 1977. it was a Dudley Do-Right story, for Gold Key. or maybe the first one was a Heckle and Jeckle story for the same company; i forget. the Heckle and Jeckle story was very good. i found out later that it was written by one of my heroes, the late Arnold Drake. i've kicked around the industry ever since, for anybody who wanted stuff lettered. which has mostly been DC, Marvel and Darkhorse. but i got to do a lot of fun stuff for the Indies in the 1980s.

i teach human anatomy and figure drawing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. it's a pretty good class. everybody should move to Cincinnati and take it. teaching anatomy is an awful lot of fun. drawing the nude is fun, too.

I've illustrated for books, magazines and television. In fact, I have illustrated for everything except for comic books.

(With two obscure exceptions. I inked a Don Lomax comic called "High Shining Brass" in 1990. it took forever, didn't pay all that well, and i bowed out after one issue. And sometime in the 90s, I was lettering a Batman story and noticed that the artist had left out a figure, a character to whom I was supposed to aim a balloon pointer. I called the artist and asked if it would be okay with him if I drew in a figure. He said fine. That's my career as a comic book artist. The story involved Mr. Freeze. The guy I drew in was named Frosty. If you can find the book, I wouldn't mind buying it from you.)

My drawings and paintings are in collections in various places. I would have worked harder to sell them if I hadn't spent so much time lettering comics. One drawing is in the permanent collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Not one of my best drawings, but it's awfully gratifying to put this on one's resume.

Since 1982 I've also freelanced as a courtroom artist for television. This is a lot of fun, and everyone should try it. My court sketches have been used in television stations in Boise, Idaho, Cincinnati, and on CNN.

my book, "The Art of Figure Drawing" was published in 2002 by North Light Books. it's pretty good, i think. it's still in print. my father says it's a classic. how's that for an objective evaluation? if you can't read English, the book has also been translated into Chinese, but the paper and reproductions in the Chinese edition leave much to be desired. you'd be better off just learning to read English. about a third of the book will be reprinted next year, as part of a larger book about drawing. i will be using the royalties to purchase a property in Monaco that has caught my eye.

my sister Madeleine spent a few years in the industry, as an editor at Acclaim. her twelfth or fifteenth book is due out next year. she is awfully intelligent, and awfully talented.

i live in cincinnati with my frighteningly beautiful wife Lisa. come visit sometime. we like taking care of people.