Over the years I’ve filled many sketchbooks with quick drawings of people. Not detailed portraits—just simple line work that tries to capture a moment or emotion.
These abstract portraits came from one of those sketchpads.
I started drawing them many years ago while experimenting with how little information a face needs in order to communicate a feeling. A few lines for the eyes, a curve for the mouth, the angle of a head—suddenly a personality appears. Sometimes they look thoughtful. Sometimes suspicious. Sometimes like they’ve just caught someone doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
The Family
One of my favorites is a piece I call The Family. It reminds me of those childhood moments when you knew you were in trouble and every adult in the room seemed to be watching you. The expressions aren’t detailed, but the tension is there.
That’s what I love about line drawing. With only a handful of strokes, the characters seem to pop off the page. When I was working on these, the faces appeared quickly—almost as if they were already there waiting to be revealed.
I ended up filling an entire sketchpad with these abstract portraits. Each one has its own personality, even though the drawings remain simple and minimal.
I’ve recently started sharing several of them on Pinterest, and I’ll continue posting more from the collection here as well. They’re a reminder that sometimes the simplest drawings carry the strongest emotions.
Thinking Man
This abstract figure is one of my favorite line people pieces because of the quiet character in the face. I think of it as my version of a thinker—introspective, calm, and a little removed from the world. These drawings begin as pencil sketches on a large sketch pad and are then carefully traced digitally in Adobe Fresco to become clean pen-style line drawings.
Inspired by Matisse and decades of working with abstract figures, this piece reflects how mood, age, and life experience subtly shape line and form. I’ve been creating variations of these abstract people for over 40 years, and it’s fascinating to see how each era leaves its mark.
Wondering
A simple yet deeply expressive line drawing inspired by the fluid minimalism of Matisse. I create many of these intuitive “line people,” and they often appear on the page before I fully understand them—emotional figures shaped by mood, gesture, and quiet honesty. This piece captures the feeling of contemplation and weariness through subtle shifts in line and form.
Drawn using clean, continuous lines, this minimalist illustration reflects how powerful simplicity can be in conveying character and emotion.
