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was a slight learning curve, but because I paint traditionally, I caught on pretty fast. I have always tried to paint in a more traditional way while painting digitally, I don't want to rely too much on the computer, or abuse it in anyway. For me, painting is painting, no matter what medium you decide to work with. Painting digitally allows me to work much faster which allows me to make my deadlines with less stress. Also, it is quite normal for art directors or editors to request changes, from minor to major, in the middle of working on an assignment and working digital provides an effective and efficient way to make corrections. After my first tablet died, I bought the Wacom Intuos 3 tablet which was millions of times better and it was just awesome to work with. After a few years using the tablet I bought the Cintiq 21UX and haven't looked back since. I believe that if you want to be a professional and you want to have the best quality work, then a Cintiq is a must! The experience of drawing and painting digitally directly on the screen is the only way to go as far as I am concerned. I think that the process for how I work on my projects is pretty basic. After I agree to work on a project, I usually start by gathering as much reference as possible. If the person is well known, I will study videos of them as well. Most of the time I take pictures of myself or of friends of mine as reference for expressions, clothing, poses and so on. Once my reference is gathered, I begin sketching. After the sketch is approved, I begin painting. I usually send work in progress shots to the director so that they feel relaxed and know the artwork is coming along. Last week I had a one-day turn around for The Weekly Standard, which was crazy but fun. I was asked to draw Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, but because I only had one day, I decided to change up my style a bit in order to make the deadline on time. I basically focused on doing a tight but also sketchy drawing and then quickly laying in some color, almost like a watercolor wash. For this assignment, I was able to use my new Wacom MobileStudioPro which I really love working on. Besides my illustration work I also teach for an online art school called Schoolism.com. I have been teaching for just about 10 years. I have two classes, one on caricature illustration and the other on drawing and painting realistic portraits.