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Artist sketches Homer characters

A series of character sketches, dubbed “People of Homer,” is celebrating city residents. Artist Jordan Cantwell is drawing unique individuals and said there’s something special about the people at the end of the road.

Jordan Cantwell and I sat at the Starbucks inside the Homer Safeway waiting for someone interesting to walk by for him to draw. It didn’t take long.

“There we go,” he said after a shopper with long dreadlocks walked by and was gone within a few seconds.

At least, his dreadlocks is all I remembered. But Cantwell seemed to have memorized his appearance.

“He had on a beanie and flip flops with no socks and the typical Homer gear with just like a jacket and some jeans,” he said. “But the flip flops with no socks, the wispy beard that he had going, the long dreadlocks and the beanie: it's too good to resist.”  

Cantwell tries to draw people once a week, and usually he’s bit more secretive about scouting for subjects. He’ll often spot them while shopping for groceries or on his drive to work. Sometimes, he’ll sit in his car and catch glimpses of people in the mirrors.

He can remember a lot about people from just a glance but at times he’ll sneak a picture.

“No I’ve never been caught [snapping a photo],” he said. “I've gotten strange looks before, and I'm always worried that they're going to say something, but no one's ever said anything to me.”  

Cantwell sketches cartoon-like portraits of people and will slightly exaggerate their defining characteristics: think a mashup between Pixar and Disney. He moved to Homer this past spring and said he only sketches people he doesn’t know. And being new makes finding subjects easy.

But this isn’t his first foray in secretly sketching his fellow man. He actually began depicting strangers a few years ago at a library in Tennessee.

“That, believe it or not, made for some pretty interesting sketches but nothing like the Homerites that we have here in town,” he said.

When asked why the people here are special, he said there’s a good variety.

“The people of Tennessee, it was a lot of the same and so Homer has a good variety of people and lots of character, I'd say, and personality,” he said.

Cantwell also draws short comics featuring kids and families and does some commissioned work, but he doesn’t have any formal background in art. His mother was an artist, and he grew up drawing. About six years ago, he wanted to take it more seriously. He draws inspiration from professional artists who work at Disney and Warner Brothers.

But he said he developed his people watching skills throughout his entire life. He just enjoys it.

“I love people,” he said. “I find them so interesting, and it’s not trying to make fun of anybody at all because I mean I'm not a great looking guy or anything. So, I would never make fun of anyone.”

He one day hopes to make a living off his art, but he wants to make sure that it never stops being fun. He loves when viewers can recognize the people in his work, and was pleased by the feedback he got when his wife posted his pictures on Facebook.

“Pleasantly surprised really,” he said. “I’m happy that people enjoyed it as much as they did.”

If you want to see more of Cantwell’s work, you can follow him on Instagram @jcantwellart.

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