My name is Sean Brinker, born and raised in Chicago, IL. I am the third child of four (one girl, three boys), my parents are Grace Mack and Karl Brinker. My first experience with art came at the age of 5 when I noticed that my older brother liked to draw. I saw him draw different things such as his favorite wrestlers, cartoons and draw a copy of his favorite newspaper comic strips. I wanted him to teach me the basics but he didn't want to take the time to teach me. So I decided to try to draw by myself, and i started out by drawing my favorite wrestlers. From there I found drawing to be a lot of fun so I continued to draw more and more. I've drawn cartoon characters, cars, and my favorite anime cartoons.
As I got older I noticed an improvement in my skills, of course my family was very supportive and gave me constructive criticism on my work. But I stopped drawing by the end of 2001 due to my focus on school, work and preparing myself for college. I graduated De La Salle Institute in 2003 and attended Michigan State University. During this two year gap, I didn't have much of a passion to draw anything, but I would still doodle here and there.
By October of 2003, I was looking through a magazine and came across a portrait of Ben Wallace, and suddenly I felt the need to draw it. I knew that I wasn't good at drawing people because I didn't have the concept using different tones when it came to shading people in. So with this picture, I used a graphite pencil set that I had gotten as a graduation present and got to work. I was proud of the finished product of my work and have dedicated myself to drawing people. I have continued to get better in my opinion with each picture that I've done. I still feel that there is so much room for me to improve my technique and skills. I've searched all over the internet to find different artist and what techniques they use to produce photograph-like portraits. I've found some great information from artists such as: Brian Duey, JD Hillberry, Linda Huber, and Zindy Zielson. I've also viewed portraits produced by Armin Mersmann and was really impressed with the visual interpretation of his work.
People have asked often if I've taken art classes and the answer is no. I've driven myself to get better with each portrait that I do, and I still feel to this day that I have much room for improvement. I've decided to begin commissions after having it suggested to me by a multitude of family and friends. So I'm hoping that this venture will be successful for me as I continue to work towards my bachelor's degree in Accounting. I know, I've been told many times by many people that this is what I should be majoring in. I find drawing to be a hobby of mine that I enjoy as long as I have a subject that inspires me.