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Share close Google Buzz Digg Stumble Upon Fark Share Email Print Steve Dorris, a Portland caricature artist, draws Savannah Trayhorn, a Reynolds High School senior. Dorris visited the school Dec. 2 as a guest in Bonnie Rulli’s commercial art class. Rulli brings in working artist every term to teach her students about careers in art.Steve Dorris had the typical artist’s life, working at Blockbuster Video while drawing caricatures on the side.
All that changed when the Portland artist landed a gig drawing faces at the Waterfront Blues Festival. Soon after, he quit his day job in 2001 and has been creating art since.
He visited a Reynolds High School art class early this month to tell students that yes, young Picassos, there is a career in art. The event was standing-room only in Bonnie Rulli’s commercial art class.
“Caricature is about how far you’re going to take it,” Dorris told the group, as he flipped through a giant pad of paper demonstrating his work.
Dorris was the latest in a string of artists invited to the class by Rulli, who’s been teaching art at Reynolds for 31 years. She brings in multiple working artists every term — from fashion designers to digital animators — to show her students they can make a career out of art.
“You never know who you’re touching,” Rulli said. “You never know what little ‘Ah, ha!’ spark flies. One of the nicest things we can give our students is the outside world.”
Dorris got his invite after meeting Rulli at a fair.
“I was taken over by his style,” said Rulli, who also works as an artist.
Dorris gave the class some secrets of his craft. To make a caricature, he explained, simply exaggerate a part of the subject’s head, such as Barack Obama’s ears or Donald Trump’s hair.
“Draw often,” he said. “Have a sketchbook. Hang out with other artists.”
He showed books of artists who inspire him — Sebastian Kruger, for example — and handbooks that have helped him practice drawing. He told of meeting comic book writer Stan Lee and director Kevin Smith.
An involved caricature takes four or five minutes, he said, whereas a long line of customers means he can only spend two minutes on a subject.
Dorris went to high school in Waco, Texas, and took commercial art but didn’t like the traditional business route.
“Advertising just wasn’t for me,” he said.
The Reynolds students soaked him up like a brush in paint. They peppered him with questions, such as what is the hardest body part for him to draw (hands) and the tools he uses (Prismacolor Sticks.)
The most exciting moment came when Dorris pointed to students in the class and asked to draw them. Many raised their hands, leaned forward and yelled, “Right here! Right here!”
“I really loved the whole experience of him coming in and talking to us,” said Chris Hernandez, 16, of Troutdale, who hopes to work as an animator one day.
Many of Rulli’s former students have taken what they’ve learned at Reynolds, including one — Chris Bailey — who went to work for Disney.
Dorris said the route to success is simple.
“You just have to work at it,” he said.
— Melissa L. Jones, Special to the Oregonian
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