It's about time I give some credit to the source of many of the human forms I use in my drawings - my husband. He's always willing when I need to snap a reference photo to capture a pose, or even just an ear, like this:

He doesn't even ask what it's for, he's just happy to help. The best part is, he's funny. When I asked him to help me simulate the heimlich manuever, I had no idea that he was going to look straight into the camera with such a look of deep concern. I laughed the entire time I drew this:

Sometimes he requests that I change his appearance so that he is not recognizable, and I oblige.

Whether it's for a column in the AWIS magazine

or an assignment for my graphic design class

he never complains. As if it weren't enough that he is extraordinarily supportive of my "alternate career" or "career away from the bench" or whatever the kids are calling it these days, he is always behind the scenes with a keen eye for design. He is the one who reins me in when I want to write a line of text in the shape of an elephant just because I learned how to use the type on path tool in Illustrator. Plus, he knows all of the lyrics to Pinball Wizard. I'm a lucky lady, I am.